The entry of leaders from other parties into Congress appears to be dislodging the leaders who have been working for the party for long and expecting party tickets to contest the coming Assembly elections. It has an adverse impact on the party in constituencies such as Medak, Malkajigiri, Jangaon and others.
Para-dropping of Mynampalli Hanumantha Rao from BRS has forced the exit of two District Congress Committee (DCC) presidents – N. Sridhar (Malkajigiri) and K. Tirupathi Reddy (Medak) as the two were strong contenders for the party tickets to Malkajigiri and Medak constituencies. Mr. Hanumantha Rao joined Congress with an assurance of ticket for his son too from Medak.
The two DCC presidents quit the Congress and joined the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) with an assurance of giving them due respect or an appropriate position/post. Accordingly, Mr. Sridhar was immediately made the Chairman of the Most Backward Classes Corporation, a cabinet-rank post.
One more aspirant for the Medak ticket and former MLA P. Shashidhar Reddy also quit Congress and joined BRS in the presence of Minister T. Harish Rao at Medak on Friday after getting enough indications from the party (Congress) that he is not going to get the ticket to contest this election.
Indications of not getting a ticket this time even after serving as Minister for 10 years and first Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president of Telangana and a planned side-lining in the party has made Ponnala Lakshmaiah (Jangaon) quit the party on Friday.
Even the ruling BRS and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have such aberrations due to the entry of leaders from other parties. The BRS has such a problem due to, MLAs who won on Congress ticket in the 2018 elections and joined it. Party leader from L.B. Nagar M. Rammohan Goud quit BRS and joined Congress after the BRS has renominated MLA Devireddy Sudheer Reddy who joined it from Congress.
“The party (BRS) has given the opportunity twice to Mr. Goud to contest from L.B. Nagar in 2014 and 2018 but he lost both times. Had he waited he would have got some other opportunity”, BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao said on Friday. Similarly, Jupally Krishna Rao (Kollapur) quit the party after B. Harshavardhan Reddy who defeated him in 2018 joined BRS as the leadership had announced to retain almost all sitting MLAs except for in special cases. A few others including A. Rekha Naik, BRS MLA from Khanapur also quit BRS after she was denied ticket.
Ahead of the Congress plans to announce its first list of 58 candidates on Sunday, another aspirant for the party ticket from Uppal Singireddy Somashekhar Reddy is said to have made up his mind to quit Congress along with his wife S. Shirisha Reddy, GHMC Corporator from A.S. Rao Nagar, after learning he is unlikely to get the Congress ticket.
