Exodus of leaders a big worry for BRS

♦ Notable departures include Patancheru’s BC leader Nilam Madhu Midiraj

♦ Former Nakrekal MLA Vemula Veeresham gains Cong ticket after BRS exit

Hyderabad: While the BRS leadership is busy in attracting senior leaders from opposition parties, the second rung leaders deserting the party has become a cause for concern for the pink party during crucial election time.

Of late several leaders from the ruling party including members of the legislative Assembly and council, former members, Zilla Parishad Chairpersons, and others have deserted the party. Most of the leaders were upset with the party denying tickets thanks to its policy of giving the ticket to the sitting members. On Monday, senior and BC leader from Patancheru Nilam Madhu Midiraj resigned from the party as they gave the ticket to the sitting MLA G Mahipal Reddy from Patancheru. Madhu was upset after the denial of the ticket and tried to meet the party chief but could not. Sources said that the BRS leader was planning to contest as an independent candidate.

There is a long list of leaders who resigned from the BRS and some of them have also succeeded in getting the ticket from the Congress party. Former Nakrekal MLA Vemula Veeresham who resigned from BRS after the announcement of the ticket to Ch Lingaiah, joined Congress and also got the ticket. Similarly, the sitting MLC Kasireddy Naryan Reddy has also resigned and joined Congress to get a ticket from Kalvakurthy.

The Malkajgiri MLA Mynampally Hanumanth Rao also resigned from BRS after his request to give the ticket to his son Rohit was rejected. Now, he along with his son will be contesting on a Congress ticket. Several others like former MLCs Akula Lalitha, Balasani Lakshminarayana, Santosh Kumar, Gadwal ZP Chairperson Sarita, and others also resigned for various reasons. Interestingly, the BRS Chief K Chandrashekar Rao, in a meeting with the candidates cautioned them asking them to take along the second rung leaders in the party.

He said that these leaders may contest as rebels and hamper their winning chances. He recalled that this happened in the last elections. “I cautioned Jupally Krishna Rao in 2018 to take leaders along with him but he did not listen. The result was his opponent contested elections as a rebel resulting in the defeat of Krishna Rao,” said Chandrashekar Rao.