Hyderabad: Telangana chief minister and current state Congress president Revanth Reddy’s plan to engineer en masse defections from the main opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) seems to have hit a roadblock. While 10 BRS legislators have defected to the grand old party so far, it is not enough for Revanth Reddy to avoid by-elections.
Moreover, internal factions in the Congress also seem to have created hurdles for the party with regard to defections, as other senior leaders are not necessarily making it easy for Revanth Reddy on that front. To avoid by-elections, two-thirds of MLAs need to join the Congress, otherwise the anti-defection law kicks in and the sitting legislator needs to resign and recontest.
The BRS won 39 out of 119 seats in last year’s Assembly elections, and 10 of its MLAs have so far shifted to the Congress. However, it has been learnt that a few of them are now unhappy. “There are already Congress leaders who they had defeated in their constituencies. And since two-thirds of MLAs from the BRS did not defect, it means they will have to go for by-elections. This will put more stress on them and also on Revanth to win,” said a political observer who did not want to be named.
If by-elections are held again, then it the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will also enter the fray, and the saffron party has been increasing its foothold in parts of Telangana and Hyderabad. Though the Congress won the 2023 Assembly polls with 64 seats, the BJP managed to win eight seats and got 20% of the vote share.
“We were expecting all the 26 MLAs from the BRS to join. However, that has not happened due to different factors. But this will not affect us in anyway,” asserted a Congress leader, who did not want to be quoted. In the current Congress government, other senior leaders are irrigation minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy, deputy chief minister Bhatti Vikramarka and roads and buildings minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy are all senior leaders, and had eyeing the top post for themselves as well, it has been learnt.
A BRS functionary, who did not want to be quoted said that the defections to the Congress were expected, and that party supremo K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) had already told the defectors that those who wanted to leave can go. “Even if they want to come back they can. The problem for them in the Congress is that there is no space and internal opposition as well,” he added.
It is to be seen if Revanth Reddy continues to get more defections. So far none of the BRS MLAs who left have been given any prominent positions.
