Hyderabad: Dissidence within the BRS refuses to die down even four days after the announcement of candidates for 115 constituencies for the upcoming Assembly polls, with leaders who were denied tickets left angry and fuming.
Even as the BRS leadership delegated senior leaders to pacify them, disgruntled leaders are refusing to meet them, with many considering jumping ship to the Congress or the BJP.
An example is the case of Tummala Nageshwar Rao, whose supporters want him to join the Congress.
Khammam Lok Sabha member Nama Nageshwar Rao met Tummala Nageshwar Rao at his Hyderabad residence and urged him not to quit the party, but he remained non-committal. His supporters in the Palair constituency have planned a huge rally for Friday, when Tummala Nageshwar Rao is expected to meet his supporters and decide on his future course of action.
Sources said that his supporters want him to contest as an independent candidate if he does not want to join the Congress or the TD, given that the party decided to give a ticket to K. Upender Reddy, who defected from the Congress in 2019.
On Thursday, supporters of Narsapur MLA C. Madan Reddy held a dharna in front of minister T. Harish Rao’s residence in Hyderabad, while, in contrast, Mahbubabad’s BRS leaders demanded replacement of their incumbent MLA Shankar Naik.
The announcement of a candidate for Narsapur has been kept pending by the Chief Minister. Madan Reddy’s supporters, in their protest, questioned why it was pending when all sitting MLAs of undivided Medak were retained.
Supporters of MLC T. Ravinder Rao also held a meeting in Mahbubabad, demanding party leadership drop sitting MLA Shankar Naik, arguing that he was bound to lose the election as he lost the trust of the people. They threatened to leave BRS if Naik was not dropped.
Kodad MLA Bollam Mallaiah Yadav tried to pacify former MLA V. Chander Rao, who vied for a Kodad ticket. The MLA went to Rao’s residence with a few of his supporters but Rao refused to meet him and locked up himself in a room. After waiting for about half an hour, the MLA returned without meeting him.
Similarly, when MLC Palla Rajeshwar Reddy went to the residence of Station Ghanpur MLA T. Rajaiah, who was dropped from the candidates list, he returned without meeting him as the MLA locked up his house and went away.
