Hyderabad: After facing defeat in assembly elections three months ago, the Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) which was high on expansion mode beyond the frontiers of Telangana earlier is now fishing in troubled waters even to find candidates to contest the upcoming parliamentary elections.
On Wednesday evening (March 13) when BRS president and former chief minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao chaired a meeting of party leaders to select some candidates it was obvious that his hands were tied in the matter.
Out of nine sitting MPs of the BRS, three have quit the party while two have expressed unwillingness to contest and one was elected as an MLA. The remaining three were renominated.
Chandrashekhar Rao dropped his daughter and MLC K. Kavitha, who was a strong contender for the ticket from Nizamabad seat which she had represented from 2014 to 2019. Notably, Kavitha had vowed to avenge her defeat in the last Lok Sabha election at the hands of BJP candidate Dharmapuri Arvind but was replaced by former BRS MLA Bajireddy Goverdhan.
Kavitha’s omission was traced to her alleged links in the Delhi liquor scam. She is alleged to be a member of the ‘South Group’ that has been accused of making payoffs of Rs 100 crore in cartelisation of liquor trade in Delhi.
On Friday (March 15), Kavitha was arrested after the Income Tax and Enforcement Directorate (ED) carried out raids at her residence and related premises amidst protests by the BRS cadre.
Earlier, she was questioned by the ED three times on charges of money laundering and included as an accused by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the case. Her petition seeking protection from arrest and challenging summons issued by the ED is scheduled for hearing in the Supreme Court on March 19.
The BRS chief also replaced sitting MP of Chevella G. Ranjeet Reddy with Kasani Gnaneshwar who had resigned as the state president of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) ahead of the assembly elections after the party decided not to contest polls in Telangana.
Another sitting MP Pasunuri Dayakar of Warangal (SC reserved) constituency was replaced with former minister Kadiyam Srihari’s daughter Dr Kadiyam Kavya. Meanwhile, Dayakar called on chief minister A. Revanth Reddy at the Secretariat.
In Zaheerabad seat, lesser known leader Gali Anil Kumar was chosen to fill the void created by the resignation of sitting MP B.B. Patil. Patil quit BRS to join the BJP which offered him the ticket from the same constituency within hours.
Although it was known that Kavitha might not be fielded by the party this time, the development in Chevella raised quite a few eye brows as Ranjeet Reddy refused to contest the polls and withdrew at a time when he had earned quite a good reputation in the party.
Drama in the BRS meeting
The candidate selection meeting in Chandrashekhar Rao’s residence on Wednesday was also attended by former BRS MLA Aroori Ramesh who was involved in a road rage incident earlier in the day. Ramesh’s shirt was torn by his followers while he was heading to Hyderabad in a car.
Ramesh had shown his inclination to join the BJP earlier and had also spoken to the BRS state president G. Kishan Reddy in this regard. However, senior BRS leaders such as former minister T. Harish Rao tried to counsel him against quitting the party but he was allegedly not convinced. Finally, former minister E. Dayakar Rao landed at his house in Warangal and whisked him away in his car to Hyderabad.
Angry BJP supporters intercepted the car at Pembarthi on Warangal-Hyderabad highway and heckled Ramesh. They shouted at him for ditching the BJP after promising to join the saffron party. The angry crowd allowed him to leave only when Ramesh gave the assurance that he would convey to Chandrashekhar Rao his unwillingness to contest the Lok Sabha polls on behalf of the BRS. He promptly kept his word at the meeting with the BRS chief even as the latter advised him not to take any hasty step.
BRS’s T. Harish Rao remarked that poaching of party candidates by the BJP or Congress showed that they did not have able leaders to field for the upcoming elections. He recalled a call given by chief minister Revanth Reddy as Opposition leader, asking people to attack defectors with stones. “Why is he promoting defections now?,” T. Harish Rao questioned.
BRS-BSP coalition
The internal BRS meeting was followed by another round of consultations between Chandrashekhar Rao and a delegation of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) led by Rajya Sabha member Ramji Gautam and BSP state president R.S. Praveen Kumar.
The two parties had entered into an alliance for the parliamentary elections. Gautam was sent as an emissary by BSP chief Mayawati, marking an exception in the case of Telangana as the party has decided to contest the elections alone at the national level.
After the defeat in the assembly elections, it appears that Chandrashekhar Rao has also changed his stance on collaborating with other parties. He had earlier shrugged off requests from the Left parties for a tie up for the recently concluded assembly polls.
In the initial meeting a few days ago, Kumar indicated his interest to contest from Nagarkurnool (SC) constituency where a sitting MP of the BRS had quit the party to join the BJP. The BSP is also staking claim for the Adilabad (ST) seat.
BRS’s troubles not over yet
The BRS had hassle free selection of candidates in four out of the nine constituencies that are finalised so far. In total, there are 17 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state, including three reserved for Scheduled Castes (SC) and two for Scheduled Tribes (ST).
Barring Khammam, Mahbubnagar, Karimnagar and Mahbubabad (ST reserved) constituencies, the party had to literally scout for candidates in the other seats. The selection was not easy in respect of Nizamabad, Chevella, Warangal (SC), Zaheerabad and Peddapalli (SC) constituencies. The party is yet to resolve candidatures for ticklish constituencies like Nalgonda, Bhongir and Malkajgiri.
The sitting MP of BRS from Peddapalli seat, Venkatesh Neta, has joined the Congress. In this constituency, the BRS gave the ticket to former minister Koppula Easwar who has lost the recent assembly elections.
Another sitting MP of BRS from Medak seat, Kotha Prabhakar Reddy, was elected to the assembly which has driven the party to look for a new candidate. Vanteru Pratap Reddy, who had unsuccessfully contested election to the assembly last year, is tipped to be the candidate from Medak constituency.
The BRS also had a tough time in selecting candidates for Secunderabad and Malkajgiri, the latter particularly which is a high profile seat represented in the present term of Lok Sabha by chief minister Revanth Reddy.
Revanth Reddy on Thursday (March 14) visited the house of former MP of Mahbubnagar A.P. Jitender Reddy to persuade him to join the Congress and contest from Malkajgiri. Jitender Reddy was eyeing for the BJP ticket from Mahbubnagar but lost the race against the party’s national vice-president D.K. Aruna. There was a strong rumour on Friday that he might also go to the house of Ranjeet Reddy.
Sai Kiran who was the BRS candidate from the Secunderabad constituency in 2019 also reportedly expressed his unwillingness to contest this time. He is the son of former minister T. Srinivas Yadav.
Reacting to the developments, former BRS MP and the party’s candidate from Karimnagar, B. Vinod Kumar said the party did not get “potential” candidates capable of winning though there were plenty of them willing to enter fray.
Leaders like Aroori Ramesh who were capable of winning were in “double mind,” Vinod Kumar said. He underlined that the prospects of the party could be measured only after a fortnight.
The BRS was planning to expand to other states — even changed the part name from TRS (Telangana Samiti Rashtra) — until it’s defeat in the assembly elections. The party organised half a dozen rallies in Maharashtra and mobilised thousands of members in the western state. But, the leadership has now gone mute regarding the party’s future there. Maharastra local leaders even alleged that their calls to senior party leaders remained unanswered and they were unsure of the party’s intentions now.
