Hyderabad: Notwithstanding the projection of some hope by Chevella’s member of Parliament G. Ranjith Reddy over his bid to retain the seat, the ugly internal fights which erupted publicly on Friday at the BRS’ preparatory meetings for the Lok Sabha elections severely imperils his chances.
The meeting had an eruption of subterranean simmering differences between two former MLAs from the Tandur Assembly segment — P. Rohith Reddy and P. Mahender Reddy — in front of all party leaders and cadres from the Chevella Lok Sabha constituency. Ironically, the meeting was to give some hope to the distraught cadre and put up a show of unity amongst the leaders.
At Friday’s show, in nearly movie style, the supporters of Mahender Reddy, who was formerly the BRS MLA from Tandur, before his seat was given to the defector Congress MLA Rohith Reddy in the recent polls, strongly objected to his rival being given a place on the dais. The meeting was chaired by senior party leader T. Harish Rao.
Mahender Reddy demanded that Rohith Reddy be asked to get down from the dais. They have been at loggerheads since forever, and after Rohith Reddy’s defeat in recent Assembly elections his supporters have been pointing fingers at Mahender Reddy as the reason. Though the ruckus was controlled before it could turn into a total brawl, the damage was done.
Harish Rao, in a separate meeting with the two former legislators, chided them and directed them to work together to give the BRS some chance to retain the Chevella seat, for which the party has decided to retain MP Ranjith Reddy.
This comes in the backdrop of the senior BRS leaders being reportedly nervous about the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, which they sense could likely become a straight fight between the two national parties – the BJP and the Congress. Both national parties, as per political observers and analysts, have huge advantages, high relevance in the electoral face-off and a strong narrative.
The Congress is buoyant after a spectacular win in state Assembly elections and is hoping to win 12 seats. The BJP, backed by the seemingly unassailable Prime Minister Narendra Modi factor, hopes to win six or seven seats. Some early surveys even indicate that BRS could lose in all 17 seats.
However, putting up a brave face, Ranjith Reddy expressed confidence that the BRS will once again win from Chevella, saying that in seven Assembly segments of the Lok Sabha constituency, BRS had a huge lead.
