Hyderabad: The BRS, reduced to 39 MLAs, could become a target of the Congress which might seek to bolster its strength in the new House as an insurance against possible future efforts to bring its government down.
Speculation has been running rife among political circles ever since the results were declared on December 3 that the Congress could do to the BRS what the BRS did to Congress in the past two Assemblies.
After the 2018 elections, 12 Congress MLAs shifted to the BRS as a block while in 2014 four Congress MLAs joined the then ruling party. There are some fears in the BRS circles that some of their MLAs, especially those who were in Congress or the TD earlier, could switch sides to the new ruling party.
While various names of recently elected BRS candidates have been doing the rounds, for now, there is no activity to indicate that something on these lines is on the cards. BRS president and former chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, and its working president K.T. Rama Rao who met with MLA-elects on Monday, are reported to have advised patience and caution against possible moves by Congress to attract them.
A senior BRS leader said on Tuesday that such switching if it does happen, should not come as a surprise. “This will not change anything substantially, as it was the case when Congress MLAs joined the BRS in the past. The BRS respects the verdict of the people and will be a responsible opposition party,” another senior BRS leader said.
Just how far BRS will wait and watch, and not make aggressive moves to pull down the Congress government, however, is uncertain given the fact that its leader Kadiam Srihari elected from Station Ghanpur said “there is no need to lose hope. BRS will return to power. It could be in six months, one, two or three years.”
His comments came at a victory rally in Station Ghanpur during a rally celebrating his win.
