Hyderabad: It appears more or less certain that BRS MP from Chevella G. Ranjith Reddy who was among the first to be declared as a candidate from the party to contest the coming Lok Sabha elections, will not be doing so.
Ranjith Reddy was prominently absent at a review meeting on the Chevella Lok Sabha constituency that was chaired by party president K. Chandrashekar Rao at his residence on Monday. This was the second meeting that Chandrashekar Rao had with party leaders on Monday, with the other being with the BRS leaders from the Nalgonda Lok Sabha constituency.
Ranjith Reddy has been reluctant to contest the Lok Sabha polls, particularly on a BRS ticket given the resistance among people to the BRS, which appears to have not diminished even after the party was handed a defeat in the November Assembly elections in the state.
According to those close to him, Ranjith Reddy was not keen to contest on a BRS ticket and Monday’s absence at the Chandrashekar Rao residence has more or less made it certain that he had made his choice. Though his name was declared by BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao more than a month ago as the candidate from Chevella, Ranjith Reddy had been staying aloof from the party. Word has also been doing the rounds that he was planning to join the BJP or the Congress.
While the BJP already announced that Konda Vishweshwar Reddy will be its candidate from Chevella, the Congress, which was expected to give the ticket to Sunitha Mahender Reddy, wife of former minister and BRS leader Patnam Mahender Reddy, pulled back at the last minute leaving a possible door open for Ranjith Reddy to get the party ticket from Chevella though he is yet to leave the BRS and join the Congress.
Incidentally, in Nalgonda too, the party received a serious setback with its leaders including former MLA from Huzurnagar, quit the BRS and joined the BJP on Sunday and could be a probable BJP candidate from Nalgonda.
The BRS chief has been focusing on Lok Sabha constituencies where his party leaders have been quitting, or are reluctant to contest from. These include Zaheerabad, where the BRS’ sitting MP B.B. Patil quit and joined the BJP and received a ticket from the BJP for the coming polls.
