Windfall for BRS Defectors in Telangana Elections

Hyderabad: Ahead of Telangana Assembly elections, we saw leaders from Congress and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) switching loyalties. Two prominent politicians among the leaders who quit Congress and joined the BRS are Ponnala Lakshmaiah and Nagam Janardhan Reddy. Their defection was widely seen as a major setback for the Congress, which had been the main opposition party in Telangana. Former MLA Vishnuvardhan Reddy followed suit and joined the KCR party. 

Both the leaders may have felt that the Congress was no longer a viable alternative to the BRS in Telangana. Nagam has told reporters that Congress was fielding those candidates who come with ‘money bags’. They ignored the advice of Congress leadership and jumped the ship. 

They may have thought that the BRS was the dominant party in Telangana, and it was widely expected to win the elections. They failed to understand the people’s pulse as the BRS got a drubbing and lost badly in the just concluded assembly elections.

On the other hand, the leaders who had dumped BRS and BJP to join Congress appear to have made the right decision. Malkajgiri MLA Mynampalli Hanumanth Rao, former MLA Vemula Veeresham and Kumbham Anil Kumar Reddy had quit the BRS and joined the Congress. Similarly, former Munugode MLA Komatireddy Raj Gopal Reddy joined the grand old party after accusing the BJP of not doing enough to take on the ruling BRS party.

Vemula Veeresham (Nakrekal), Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy (Munugode), Kumbam Anil Kumar Reddy (Bhongir) won the assembly elections on Congress ticket while Mynampalli Hanumanth Rao was defeated by Marri Rajashekar Reddy of BRS in Malkajgiri assembly segment. 

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