Hyderabad: With infighting and discontent brewing ahead of the December 2023 Assembly elections, the BRS president and Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao will attempt to gratify some disappointed leaders by nominating them to the seven Legislative Council (MLC) seats that will fall vacant in the first half of 2023, with their six-year tenure of the current occupants ending in March and May.
The CM may favour those who may be denied party tickets to contest the 2023 Assembly polls, or those who could not be accommodated in his Cabinet for various reasons, such as political and caste equations. For some time now, infighting has been brewing over the issue of not getting nominated posts and not receiving priority and recognition within the party.
A few party insiders believe that the seven MLC vacancies over the next five months will provide the CM with an opportunity to right the ship. Since the BRS enjoys absolute majority in the Assembly as well as in all the local bodies, it is a foregone conclusion that the party will comfortably bag all the seven seats.
Three seats will fall vacant under the MLAs quota on March 29 with the retirement of BRS MLCs Alimineti Krishna Reddy, Vullolla Gangadhar Goud and Kurumaiahgari Naveen Kumar, while two seats will become vacant under the Governor's quota on May 27 with the retirement of MLCs D. Rajeshwar Rao and Farooq Hussain.
Under the teacher’s quota, MLC Katepally Janardhan Reddy will retire on March 29, while under the Local Authorities quota AIMIM MLC Syed Aminul Hasan Jafri, who was elected in March 2017 with the backing of the TRS (now BRS), will retire on March 27.
The BRS is embroiled in infighting in several Assembly constituencies, particularly in constituencies where MLAs from the Congress, TD and independents defected to the BRS after being elected in the 2018 Assembly elections. The TRS leaders who were defeated in these seats are demanding that the party leadership offer them tickets to contest the 2023 Assembly elections, or else they will be compelled to switch to other parties. Sources said the CM may accommodate such leaders to MLC posts.
