BRS' City Citadel Begins to Crumble, 3 of Its 15 GHMC Area MLAs Now in Congress
HYDERABAD: The opposition BRS’ stronghold over the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation region now appears very shaky with three of its 15 MLAs who won from the greater Hyderabad area, now in the Congress fold. More are said to be on their way into the ruling party.
Though the first blow was dealt with the departure of Danam Nagender, MLA from Khairatabad who left the BRS before the Lok Sabha elections, two more were dealt in quick succession with Rajendranagar MLA Prakash Goud, and Serilingampally MLA Arekapudi Gandhi joining the Congress on Friday and Saturday respectively.
Nearly half of the BRS’ strength in the Assembly came from the 15 MLAs who won on that its ticket in last year’s state elections. The BRS which won 39 seats, lost one the Secunderabad Cantonment seat with Congress winning in a bypoll after BRS MLA lost her life in a road accident.
So far, nine BRS MLAs have quit their party to join the Congress bringing down the strength of the main Opposition party in the Assembly to 27, and it is expected that several more will follow suit in joining the Congress leaving the BRS much thinner, and quite possibly, lose its principal opposition party status too in the days to come.
For the BRS, the support in the highly urbanised GHMC area was seen as a vindication of that party government’s development of Hyderabad, and its neighbouring districts. However, for the Congress, it is as much about insulating itself in the Assembly from any potential threats to the stability of its government as well as paying back the BRS which when in power, did everything it could to get MLAs from the Congress, as well as from the Telugu Desam and the Communist parties to cross over to its side when it was in power.
With many of the BRS MLAs from GHMC area expected to make their way into the Congress, the ruling party, which did not have any presence in the city to speak of – it won just two councillor seats in the 2020 GHMC elections – also hopes to make its presence felt when the next GHMC elections roll around next year.