HYDERABAD: The upcoming election to the Legislative Council under the MLAs quota has spawned an interesting discussion in BRS circles about who the party will pick as its candidate.
Sources revealed that BRS supremo K Chandrasekhar Rao discussed whether it would be prudent to give the ticket to a leader from the BC community.
It may be noted here that the terms of four MLCs from the BRS are set to expire within the next month. However, the strength of the party in the Assembly will allow it to secure only one seat in the Council.
BRS won 38 seats in the 2023 Assembly elections, and 10 of these MLAs have defected to the ruling Congress. Though these 10 remain BRS MLAs as per Assembly records, there is no chance for the pink party to ensure the victory of any second candidate due to the numbers game.
There is also no likelihood of the other parties in the Assembly, the AIMIM and BJP, fielding their candidates, again due to the numbers game.
The AIMIM won seven seats and the BJP eight. On their own, these two parties lack the votes to win in the Council. Their joining hands is not even a remote possibility. The present political situation in the state rules out the possibility of either of these parties extending support for a second BRS candidate.
In fact, the MIM is more likely to support the Congress candidate, as it eyes reciprocal support from the ruling party to get its own pick elected from the Hyderabad Local Bodies quota.
Taking the situation on the ground into account, the BRS supremo is stated to have decided to name senior party leader Dasoju Sravan as its candidate.
Sravan is well known in political circles and had been recommended to the Council under the Governor’s quota.
He is currently the BRS spokesperson and previously served in the same role in the Congress.
The party leaders revealed that there was intense discussion regarding the candidate, with the caste census and BC reservations playing a major part in KCR’s decision.
Sources said that the name of sitting MLC Satyavathi Rathod, whose term is set to end next month, was also mentioned during the discussion, but KCR reportedly shot this down, saying that he planned to field her from Mahabubabad in the next Assembly elections.