Hyderabad: The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) here is unlikely to let any of its former MLAs who defected to the ruling Congress return back. About 10 MLAs had defected after the BRS, but the move backfired legally in court due to which many of them on record denying they had shifted parties. BRS supremo, according to highly placed sources, is miffed with the defectors, given that some of them were very senior leaders who were long-term associated with the party.
Out of the defected MLAs, only one of them – Patancheru MLA Mahipal Reddy – has been taken back. “Mahipal Reddy was the only exception as he told us he was blackmailed by the Congress and Revanth Reddy with false cases. KCR sir will not accept anyone else,” said a senior BRS functionary. He added that a few more MLAs have also been trying to return, but the party said no to them.
Another major reason for not taking back the defectors is the BRS’ own cadre being reportedly against it. According to the party functionary, there is a lot of pressure against taking back any of the MLAs. “This is in fact interesting as the MLAs and other top leaders have left us but their cadre on ground did not leave. For example, our ex-MLA in Huzoornagar left for BJP but he came back after the Sarpanch elections because he barely helped them win anything. He left alone to the BJP and returned,” the BRS leader told Siasat.
KCR unhappy with betrayal of senior BRS faces after 2023 loss
Moreover, a few of the BRS leaders who after its loss to the Congress in the 2023 Telangana state elections were senior like K Kesahav Rao and Kadiam Srihari. “Keshav Rao and Kadiam Srihari enjoyed the benefits when BRS was in power so KCR is very unhappy due to their betrayal,” the BRS leader informed. It may however be noted that Srihari’s daughter Kadiam Kavya won from the Warangal Lok Sabha seat in the 2019 General Elections. It is to be seen if he is given a ticket from the Ghanpur Assembly seat in the next state polls.
With the BRS unwilling to take them back, the Congress may not keep its doors for all of them as it will have its own leaders in the same Assembly constituencies who will be seeking the same seats.
“Their political career is more or less finished if Congress also does not accept them. If Revanth had made promises to them, he has to fulfill those. The CM is not the owner of his party in Telangana, everything is controlled from Delhi,” the BRS leader said.
A Congress leader from Telangana also said that since the defected MLAs had declared in courts that they never left BRS, the party will also mostly not give them tickets from the party in the next elections, with some exceptions (like Khairatabad MLA Danam Nagender who was an long-time Congressman before joining the BRS) . “It will be difficult to accommodate them,” he remarked, when asked about it.
