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The Hindu
The Hindu
National
The Hindu Bureau

Khammam BRS leaders blame bickering for Assembly poll debacle

The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leadership has decided to reorganise the party committees at the State and district levels soon to re-energise the party ranks following the debacle in the recent Assembly elections. To keep the momentum of activity, it has decided to do an Assembly constituency-wise review after the ongoing preparatory meetings of Parliamentary constituencies.

Starting from January 3, the Parliamentary constituency preparatory meetings are being held in two stretches – from January 3 to 12 and from January 16 to 21. Party president K. Chandrasekhar Rao is expected to return to public life in February and is planning to take up a district tour to re-ignite the spirit of party ranks that have been dampened to some extent due to the Assembly election loss.

Speaking in the Khammam Lok Sabha constituency meeting on Tuesday, party working president K.T. Rama Rao said fighting against odds was not new to the party rank and file as the BRS had come into existence with the movement for statehood. The party ranks would get rejuvenated once party president Chandrasekhar Rao gets back to public space.

Stating that the BRS Government had made Telangana a leader in many development indicators in the 10 years of its rule, Mr. Rama Rao said the party’s voice at the national level was necessary for the State’s interests as both the Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had no history of working for Telangana interests. “BRS is both the voice (‘galam’) and force/strength (‘dalam’) of Telangana and its interests since 2001,” he added.

BRS Rajya Sabha member Vaddiraju Ravichandra speaking at Khammam Parliamentary constituency preparatory meeting in Hyderabad on Tuesday. (Source: Special Arrangement)

Rajya Sabha member Vaddiraju Ravichandra said he had worked as election in-charge for the first time in the recent Assembly polls for Kothagudem and Yellandu constituencies and was hopeful of victory in Kothagudem. However, he along with many others failed to gauge the public pulse which was indicative in the election of 38 newcomers, the candidates with a political past, in the recent Assembly elections.

He said nobody was to be blamed for the party’s defeat but the in-charges. He requested the party leadership to renominate sitting MP Nama Nageswara Rao as the party candidate for the Khammam Lok Sabha seat again as he was relentless in the fight for the State’s interests in Parliament.

Banswada MLA and former speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy said the party had lost nine out of 10 seats in the combined Khammam district due to internal bickering and keeping them aside was a must for winning the LS seat this time.

Station Ghanpur MLA and former deputy chief minister Kadiyam Srihari, Rajya Sabha member B. Parthasarathi Reddy and sitting Lok Sabha member Nageswara Rao spoke at the meeting and vowed to work as a team irrespective of who gets the party ticket this time.

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