Hyderabad: With the Telangana Assembly elections inching closer, a fierce contest within Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leaders for MLA tickets in different constituencies in underway.
The upscale Jubilee Hills Assembly constituency is no exception. The recent rift involving Jubilee Hills MLA Maganti Gopinath and Telangana State Education and Welfare Infrastructure Development Corporation (TSEWIDC) chairman Ravula Sridhar Reddy highlights how aspirants are trying to make their presence felt in party circles and Assembly constituencies while the incumbents are not leaving any stone unturned to retain their position and get the party ticket again.
The Madhura Nagar police recently filed a case against Subba Rao, personal assistant to Jubilee Hills MLA Maganti Gopinath, and other persons for allegedly attacking a BRS party worker Ganesh Singh for putting a ‘smaller picture’ of the MLA on the banner for the Bonalu celebrations, while giving the photo of Sridhar Reddy, who is one of the aspirants for the BRS party ticket from Jubilee Hills constituency, a bigger display.
Maganti Gopinath had won the 2014 elections from Jubilee Hills on a TDP ticket and later joined BRS. Then in 2018, he contested on BRS ticket and won.
Things seems to have changed since 2018. According to sources, apart from Gopinath, there are two new aspirants for the party ticket from the same constituency — TSWIDC chairman Ravula Sridhar Reddy and former deputy mayor Baba Fasiuddin.
Sridhar Reddy and Fasiuddin are now aggressively lobbying to secure the ticket to contest from Jubilee Hills in the upcoming elections. Sridhar Reddy, had unsuccessfully contested on a BJP ticket in 2018 and later joined Bharat Rashtra Samithi. In Jubilee Hills constituency, the minority community has a significant influence. The AIMIM had also fielded their candidate, Naveen Yadav, from Jubilee Hills. However, he could not win.
On the other hand, Baba Fasiuddin is banking on minority votes besides the BRS votes, and is confident of winning the elections if given a chance by the party.
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