BJP eyes increased presence in Telangana Legislative Council
Hyderabad: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is eyeing an increased presence in the Telangana Legislative Council as it announced candidates for three constituencies even before the announcement of the poll schedule by the Election Commission.
The saffron party took both the ruling Congress and the main opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) by surprise by declaring candidates for Medak-Nizamabad-Adilabad-Karimnagar Graduates’ constituency, Warangal-Khammam-Nalgonda Teachers’ constituency and Medak-Nizamabad-Adilabad-Karimnagar Teachers’ constituency.
While the Medak-Nizamabad-Adilabad-Karimnagar Graduates’ constituency is held by the Congress, the teachers’ constituencies are represented by Independents.
The BJP has named industrialist C. Anji Reddy for the Medak-Nizamabad-Adilabad-Karimnagar Graduates’ constituency, currently represented by senior Congress leader and former Minister T. Jeevan Reddy.
The saffron party has decided to field educationist Malka Komaraiah for the Medak-Nizamabad-Adilabad-Karimnagar Teachers’ constituency.
Puli Sarottham Reddy will contest on a BJP ticket from Warangal-Khammam-Nalgonda Teachers’ constituency.
Sarottham Reddy, who hails from Warangal, served as a school teacher for more than 30 years. He was general secretary of the Panchayat Raj Teachers’ Union (PRTU) from 2012 to 2019 and was active during the statehood movement as part of the Teachers’ Joint Action Committee.
The three MLC seats going to fall vacant in March but the BJP named the candidates even before the announcement of the poll schedule to not only stump both Congress and BRS but also give ample time to the candidates to campaign.
This is a clear change of strategy by the BJP, which was the last to announce its candidates for the November 2023 Assembly elections and May 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
The BJP’s confidence stems from its impressive performance in both elections.
The party sees a bright chance of wresting Medak-Nizamabad-Adilabad-Karimnagar Graduates’ constituency from Congress.
The BJP won Medak, Nizamabad, Karimnagar and Adilabad Lok Sabha constituencies under which the graduates’ constituency falls.
Seven of the eight Assembly seats held by the BJP are in these four districts.
The Congress party is witnessing infighting in this constituency with its sitting MLC Jeevan Reddy recently raising the banner of revolt over the party admitting Jagtial MLA Sanjay Kumar, who was elected on the BRS ticket.
The ruling party holds more than 20 Assembly seats in the graduates’ constituency. The BRS is also under huge pressure after drawing a blank in Lok Sabha polls, its worst-ever performance.
After losing power in 2023, the party also received many setbacks with at least 10 MLAs and some top leaders crossing over to Congress.
The BJP is upbeat after doubling its Lok Sabha tally from the state to eight, which was its best-ever performance.
The saffron party, which won four seats in 2019 with a vote share of 19.5 per cent, improved its vote share to 35.08 per cent. This was a huge gain for the party, which had polled 13.90 per cent votes in the November 2023 Assembly elections and won eight seats in the 119-member Assembly.
The MLC elections will be crucial for all three major players ahead of rural and urban local body elections.
With several contenders for the three seats, the Congress and BRS have still not finalised their candidates.
The BJP will be looking to repeat the result of the MLC election held in March 2023 when AVN Reddy, a candidate of the BJP-affiliated teachers’ union, won the Mahabubnagar-Rangareddy-Hyderabad Teachers’ constituency.
He is the lone BJP MLC in the 40-member Legislative Council.
BRS will also go all out to repeat its performance in the by-election for one MLC seat held in March 2024.
It dealt a blow to the ruling Congress by winning the by-election from the Mahabubnagar local bodies constituency.
Naveen Kumar Reddy of BRS emerged victorious with a majority of 109 votes over his nearest rival Manney Jeevan Reddy of the Congress party.
The victory came as a setback for the Congress in Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy’s home district Mahabubnagar.
Revanth Reddy himself had cast his vote in the by-election as an ex-officio member in his capacity as MLA from Kodangal constituency.
Following the victory, BRS Working President K. T. Rama Rao claimed that it signals a crucial turning point in the evolving political landscape of Telangana.
However, the Congress won the by-election to the Warangal-Khammam-Nalgonda Graduates’ Constituency in June 2024.
Chintapandu Naveen alias Teenmaar Mallanna defeated his nearest rival Rakesh Reddy of BRS.
While Congress faces a tough challenge from BJP and BRS in three constituencies, the ruling party will be hoping to make a clean sweep in the elections to be held for five MLC seats under MLAs quota in a couple of months.
The Congress, which had bagged 64 seats in the 119-member Assembly, increased its tally to 75 with the defection of 10 BRS MLAs to its camp.
The ruling party also wrested the Secunderabad Assembly seat in the by-election last year.
The BRS which had 29 members (including four nominated members) in the 40-member strong Legislative Council, has lost eight MLCs to Congress during the last year.
