Nine sitting MLAs from Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) have not been given tickets for the upcoming Telangana assembly elections, where the party has announced it will be contesting alone.
Telangana chief minister and BRS president K. Chandrashekar Rao announced on Monday, 21 August, his party’s candidature for 115 seats out of the total 119 in the assembly.
Moreover, for two unannounced seats, the names of the sitting MLAs have not been considered.
Seats such as Huzurabad, Secunderabad Cantonment, Mulugu, and Dubbaka — where the BRS does not currently have an MLA — feature new candidates from the party.
Candidates who lost their seats
Kova Lakshmi, who lost the seat from Asifabad in the 2018 election, has been given a ticket in place of Athram Sakku, who previously won on a Congress ticket and later switched allegiance to the BRS along with 12 other Congress MLAs. Kova Lakshmi won the 2014 election and was defeated in 2018.
Bhukya Johnson Rathod Naik, considered close to incumbent cabinet minister and working president K.T. Rama Rao, has been chosen to replace A. Rekha Naik in the Khanapur seat.
In the Boath constituency, Neeradigonda Zilla Praja Parishad Territorial Constituency (ZPTC) member Anil Jadhav will take the place of the sitting MLA Bapu Rao Rathod. Notably, Rathod had been absent from BRS meetings for the past few months, and several local leaders had complained about him to the chief minister.
In Uppal, sitting MLA Bethi Subhash Reddy has been replaced by Bandaru Lakshma Reddy. Additionally, the former GHMC mayor and a close confidant of KTR, Bonthu Ram Mohan, did not receive a ticket.
For Korutla, the party leadership has considered the request of sitting MLA Kalvakuntla Vidyasagar Rao to give a ticket to his son, K. Sanjay Kumar.
After facing a series of sexual harassment allegations, the sitting MLA of Station Ghanpur, T. Rajaiah, lost his position, with Kadiyam Srihari being given the ticket.
The sitting MLA from Vemulawada, Ramesh Chennamaneni, has been replaced, and the party has nominated Chalmeda Lakshmi Narasimha Rao. KCR said that while the incumbent Vemulawada MLA was a good leader, allegations regarding citizenship prompted the change.
L. Ramulu Naik, an independent candidate who won from the ST-reserved Wyra constituency and later joined the BRS, has been denied a ticket, with Banoth Madanlal taking his place.
In Kamareddy, Gampa Govardhan had to vacate his seat as KCR himself decided to contest from the constituency.
Candidates who have been replaced
In the Huzurabad assembly constituency, which saw a by-election in 2021 after sitting TRS (now BRS) MLA Eatala Rajender resigned and contested on a BJP ticket, Gellu Srinivas Rao has been replaced by Padi Kaushik Reddy, who had previously contested from Huzurabad in 2018 on a Congress ticket.
G. Sayanna, the BRS MLA from the Secunderabad Cantonment Constituency, who passed away in February, will be succeeded by his daughter G. Lasya Nanditha. Krishank Manne, the spokesperson who often represents BRS on national television, and sought a ticket from the constituency, has been denied one.
In Mulugu, former minister and BRS leader Azmeera Chandulal, who lost the 2018 election to Congress, has not received a ticket. Zila Parishad Chairman Bade Nagajyothi — daughter of a former Naxalite — has been selected as the BRS candidate for that seat.
Solipeta Ramalinga Reddy, the BRS candidate who won the 2018 election in Dubbaka but passed away in 2020, was followed by his wife Solipeta Sujatha Reddy in the 2020 by-election, though she lost to the BJP. Now, Kotha Prabhakar Reddy, a close confidant of Harish Rao, will be the BRS candidate in the constituency.
Suspense over two seats
The BRS has not yet announced the candidates for four seats, including Jangaon and Narsapur, where it has sitting MLAs.
The name of Jangaon MLA Muthireddy Yadagiri Reddy has not appeared on the list, and similarly, Narsapur MLA Chilumula Madan Reddy’s name is also missing.
This article was originally published on The South First.