WARANGAL: The ruling TRS party along with the sitting MLAs are sure to face a tough challenge from their own party leaders and are likely to have ‘rebel trouble’ in many assembly segments in Warangal region.
While chief minister Chandrashekar Rao had announced all sitting MLAs would be allotted tickets in the coming assembly elections, many local leaders aspiring to be MLAs are not enthused.
Out of the 12 assembly seats in the Warangal region, the TRS has 11 seats in its kitty. Some of the MLAs had shifted to TRS from other parties after the 2018 elections while some others migrated to it after the 2014 polls and retained their seats in 2018.
MLAs Peddi Sudharshan of Narsampet constituency, Dasyam Vinaybhaskar of Warangal West, Muttireddy Yadagiri of Jangaon and Shankar Naik of Mahabubabad constituency are original TRS men but the remaining MLAs are arrivals to the ruling side from other parties.
After the 2014 elections in the district, TRS won eight the 12 assembly segments. But Errabelli Dayakar who won from Palakurthy and Challa Dharmareddy from Parkal on Telugu Desam tickets along with Redya Naik who won the polls on Congress ticket shifted their loyalties to the TRS.
In the 2018 polls, the ruling party grabbed 10 assembly seats. The other two seats (Bhupalpally and Mulugu) were won by the Congress. But Gandra Venkataramana who won from Bhupalpally shifted his loyalty to ruling TRS, making the total number of TRS seats to 11.
Lack of cohesion between the new entrants and former MLAs, with some old-timers too biding their time is a cause of concern to the party leadership and sitting MLAs.
The ruling party would face rebel trouble in around six assembly constituencies in Warangal region. In Bhupalpally segment, former assembly speaker Madhusudana Chary is keen on getting an assembly ticket along with sitting MLA Venkataramana Reddy who migrated to TRS from the Congress.
In Warangal East, MLC Baswaraju Saraiah who shifted from the Congress to TRS and mayor Gundu Sudarani who came in from the Telugu Desam are intensifying their lobbying for the assembly ticket and may pose problems to sitting MLA Nannapuneni Narendar.
In Dornakal, tribal welfare minister Satyavathi Rathod is hoping to get the ticket and would be a threat to sitting MLA Redya Naik, who had come in from the Congress.
In the Station Ghanpur, there is tough competition between former deputy CM and MLC Kadiyam Srihari and sitting MLA Thatikonda Rajaiah. On a number of occasions, each of them was trying to prove his supremacy over the others and indulged in open arguments.
In Parkal assembly constituency, Nagurla Venkateshwarlu who was with the TRS all along is trying to get the party ticket that he failed to grab in the elections 2014 and 2018 polls. He’s confident the party would allot him a ticket this time. The sitting MLA is Challa Dharmareddy who had defected to TRS from TDP.
In Mahabubabad assembly segment, MP Malothu Kavitha, the daughter of Redya Naik, is eying the assembly seat and started her activities, much to the annoyance of sitting MLA Shankar Naik.
