KCR devises strategy for recapturing Congress, BJP MLA seats

Hyderabad: The ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), which aims to score a hat-trick by securing 100 seats in the December 2023 Assembly elections, is making aggressive strategic moves by announcing candidates well in advance and appointing them as incharges in constituencies where the party has no representation of MLAs.

The BRS leadership is focusing on regaining five seats held by the Congress and three by the BJP, and is now shortlisting candidates for these seats. As a result, the party leadership has appointed incharges for the Huzurabad, Goshamahal, Bhadrachalam, and Secunderabad cantonment constituencies so far.

BRS president and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao on Wednesday appointed MLC Padi Kaushik Reddy as party's incharge for Huzurabad constituency held by BJP MLA Etala Rajender. Although the BRS fielded Gellu Srinivas Yadav against Etala in a bypoll held in October 2021, it did not consider him for upcoming Assembly polls. The CM is focussing on appointing incharge for Dubbak Assembly seat, held by BJP MLA M.Raghunandan Rao.

Nanda Kishore Vyas has been appointed as incharge for the Goshamahal constituency to take on BJP MLA Raja Singh, Marri Rajashekar Reddy as incharge for the Secunderabad cantonment constituency due to the untimely demise of BRS sitting MLA G.Sayanna in February this year.

Of the 119 Assembly constituencies in Telangana, the BRS MLAs represent 104 constituencies. The AIMIM has seven MLAs followed by Congress five and BJP three.

All the seven AIMIM MLAs represent constituencies located in Hyderabad, mostly Old City.The Congress has five MLAs representing Manthani, Madhira, Bhadrachalam, Mulug, and Sangareddy, whereas the BJP has three MLAs representing Goshamahal, Dubbak, and Huzurabad. The BRS leadership, which believes AIMIM is its 'friendly party,' has no plans to really challenge the seven seats controlled by AIMIM, preferring instead to have a 'friendly contest' with AIMIM in these seven seats.

On Wednesday, the CM also appointed former MLC Balasani Laxminarayana as incharge for Bhadrachalam seat held by Congress MLA Podem Veeraiah. However, Balasani, who represents Backward Classes community, cannot contest Bhadrachalam seat, as it is reserved for the Scheduled Tribes (STs). BRS sources said this was only a temporary arrangement to build the party's base in Bhadrachalam before the CM decides the ST candidate for the upcoming Assembly elections.

The appointment of Marri Rajashekar Reddy as incharge for the Secunderabad cantonment has triggered a debate in the BRS circles about who would be the party's incharge for the Malkajgiri Lok Sabha seat. This is because Marri Rajashekar Reddy has been incharge for the Malkajgiri Lok Sabha constituency for some time now. He even contested the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from Malkajgiri but lost to Congress candidate A.Revanth Reddy. Speculations are rife in the BRS circles that the CM is looking for a strong candidate for the Malkajgiri Lok Sabha seat in the place of Marri Rajashekar Reddy.