Telangana elections: BRS MLAs face competition for tickets within party

Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) senior leadership is ready to release the first list of contenders for the upcoming Telangana Assembly elections but the incumbent MLAs are facing competition from leaders within the party who are hopeful of getting a chance to contest, Deccan Chronicle (DC) has reported.

While sitting legislators have asserted that they are confident about re-nomination, names of relatives of the MLAs and other leaders are also coming up for the ticket.

In the 2018 Telangana Assembly elections, Jeevan Reddy was the first candidate to get a BRS ticket for the Armoor Assembly constituency. Reddy got the ticket and was elected to the Telangana Assembly for a second time. Jeevan Reddy has gained prominence in the party and now serves as BRS district president too, the DC report said.

However, this time, another key leader and zilla parishad chairman Dadannagari Vittal Rao also wants to contest from the Armoor constituency. Moreover, Vittal Rao is a relative of Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao. The report said CM may consider changing sitting MLAs in the Nizamabad district.

Similarly, in the Bodhan Assembly constituency, MLA Shakil Amer's wife, Ayesha Fatima's name is doing rounds for the MLA ticket.

Telangana Assembly Speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy, TSRTC chairman Bajireddy Govardhan, and Jukkal MLA Hanmanth Shinde are also reported to have proposed their sons as MLA candidates. Taking note of the trend, BRS supremo K Chandrashekhar has said that sitting MLAs should continue to be active in politics instead of deciding their successors, the report added.

Other than this, Subhash Reddy's name has come up for the Kamareddy assembly constituency for the MLA ticket. Reddy is a philanthropist and builder in the area and is a familiar face.