KCR's list a Trojan Horse

Hyderabad: After the initial euphoria of getting renominated died down, sitting Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) legislators, like their rivals in Opposition parties, have been looking at Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao’s moves with suspicion.

Knowing fully well Rao’s political acumen, political circles in Telangana are of the strong opinion that the list released by him on Monday may not be final and changes might take place in the days to come.

On the other hand, dispelling the rumours, high-level meetings were held in the Secretariat on Tuesday to review the pending wish lists of the re-nominated legislators and instructions were given to district collectors to launch special drives to address the issues on a war footing.

“The Chief Minister himself announced in various party fora that 30 per cent legislators have been facing strong anti-incumbency and hinted at changing them,” a senior BRS leader pointed out, to justify the disbelief over re-nominating of all-but-seven sitting legislators.

Several legislators who were expected to be excluded were also surprised to find their names on the list. “Why would KCR go to battle with 30-40 wounded soldiers with no guarantee of giving a tough fight, leave alone winning, is the million-dollar question that is leaving MLAs anxious,” a source said.

In a legislature party meeting held a few months ago, Rao declared he had authentic information on some legislators demanding commissions ranging from Rs 2-3 lakh from Dalit Bandhu beneficiaries and warned of strict action.

Veteran Congress leader and Nalgonda MP N. Uttam Kumar Reddy on Tuesday pointed it out and ridiculed Chandrashekar Rao for “re-nominating corrupt MLAs who took money from Dalit Bandhu beneficiaries.”

BRS leaders were of the view that the Chief Minister might retain Kamareddy and field V. Pratap Reddy from Gajwel when the poll notification is released.

Maintaining that Rao’s decision to contest from two places was not out of fear of losing Gajwel, sources close to the BRS chief pointed out that there was no strong leader in Gajwel after Reddy shifted loyalties to challenge the Chief Minister.

“The strategic move is for different reasons, though one might find it difficult to understand at this stage,” a source said, adding that the Chief Minister got a survey done more than a year ago on winning Kamareddy and even made use of journalists from his own publication to get feedback.

Meanwhile, Opposition parties were of the view that Rao had put a check on defections for the time being and once the Congress and BJP finalise their candidates, he will make changes and justify with the same conviction he displayed on Monday.