Like their opponents in the opposition parties, sitting Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) legislators have been viewing chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao's actions with scepticism after the initial joy of being renominated subsided. Given Rao's political savvy, political insiders in telangana are adamant that the list he issued on monday may not be final and that adjustments could be made in the days to come.

In contrast, high-level meetings were conducted in the secretariat on tuesday to assess the legislators' pending wish lists. Additionally, district collectors were given instructions to launch special drives to tackle the issues on a war footing. A top BRS leader cited the chief minister himself as the reason for the incredulity over the re-nominating of all but seven incumbent legislators: "The chief minister himself announced in various party fora that 30% legislators have been facing strong anti-incumbency and hinted at changing them."

Several lawmakers who had assumed they would not be included were shocked to see their names on the list. The million-dollar question that is worrying MLAs is, "Why would kcr go to battle with 30-40 wounded soldiers with no guarantee of giving a tough fight, let alone winning," a source questioned. Several months ago, Rao threatened to take stern action at a legislative party gathering after claiming to have verified information about several lawmakers who demanded commissions from Dalit Bandhu beneficiaries in the range of Rs 2-3 lakh.

N. Uttam Kumar reddy, a seasoned Congressman and nalgonda MP, brought it up on tuesday and mocked Chandrashekar Rao for "re-nominating corrupt MLAs who took money from Dalit Bandhu beneficiaries." The chief minister may choose to keep kamareddy on the ballot and run V. Pratap reddy from Gajwel, according to BRS leaders. Insisting that Rao's decision to run for two offices was not motivated by a concern over losing Gajwel, sources close to the BRS leader noted that the community lacked a strong leader after reddy switched allegiances to oppose the Chief Minister.

The chief minister commissioned a study on winning kamareddy more than a year ago, and even used journalists from his own newspaper to gather comments, the source claimed. "The strategic move is for different reasons, though one might find it difficult to understand at this stage," the source added. In the meantime, opposition parties believed Rao had temporarily stopped defections, and that once the congress and bjp finalised their nominees, he would make modifications and defend them with the same vigour as on Monday.
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SIBY JEYYA

23/08/2023 08:12 AM