HYDERABAD: Several chairpersons and nominated chairpersons of various are seeking tickets from the BRS for the upcoming Assembly elections in the State. Most of them are close to IT Minister KT Rama Rao, Finance Minister T Harish Rao and BRS MLC K Kavitha.
Mineral Development Corporation chairman Manne Krishank is regularly touring the Cantonment Assembly constituency making it clear that he wishes to contest from there. Telangana State Medical Service Infrastructure Development Corporation chairman Errolla Srinivas too appears to be keen on testing his luck from this constituency, which fell vacant following the demise of sitting MLA G Sayanna. They are close associates of KT Rama Rao and T Harish Rao respectively.
Sources say that Errolla Srinivas also has a chance to bag the Zaheerabad Assembly seat which is a reserved seat in Medak district.
Chairperson of State Women Commission Sunitha Laxma Reddy is expecting a ticket from Narsapur Assembly constituency, from where she was elected and had served as a minister in the Congress regime. State Women Finance Corporation chairperson and former MLC Akula Lalita too is lobbying for the Armoor or Nizamabad Urban Assembly ticket.
Elsewhere, Telangana State Warehousing Corporation chairman Sai Chand is expecting the ticket for the Alampur Assembly constituency in Mahabubnagar. He was also aspiring for a Legislative Council seat from the local bodies constituency in 2021, but Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao accorded him the Warehousing Corporation post.
Telangana State Foods chairman Rajeev Sagar, who is a close associate and key follower of Kavitha, hopes to contest from Tungaturti constituency. According to sources, Rajeev Sagar has the backing for a sizable number of Christian organisations in the city as well as districts.
The sources also said that he has been requesting the MLC to give him a chance to contest for the Assembly after working in the Telangana Jagruthi for years. Gajjela Nagesh, who contested from the Cantonment Assembly segment in 2014 and is now serving as Telangana State Beverages Corporation chairman, expects to contest from the same constituency.
Dudimetla Balaraju, who is chairman of the Sheep and Goat Development Corporation, is lobbying for the Nagarjunasagar Assembly ticket. BRSV leader and chairman of Telangana Tourism Development Corporation Gellu Srinivas Yadav, who contested the recent Huzurabad bypoll on BRS ticket, is hoping the party field him for the segment once again.
The aspirants, who are expecting a favourable decision from the BRS high command, may cause some heartburn in the party since they face stiff competition from within the party for the tickets. This would pose a challenge for party leadership. Some leaders have stated that while expectations are not a problem, several individuals on the list may not have the strength to face their opponents in their allocated constituencies.