Chevella LS seat to witness contest among old BRS leaders

Hyderabad: It will be a contest between the old BRS leaders in the Chevella Lok Sabha elections, as candidates announced by parties have background of the pink party. While the main Opposition nominee is Kasani Gnaneshwar Mudiraj, candidates of other two major parties, the BJP and the Congress, were originally from the BRS.

With the three major parties finalising candidates for the seat it is going to be a triangular fight. However, when it comes to candidates, all the three have been in the BRS. Konda Vishweshwar Reddy, the BJP nominee, came from the BRS. He was elected from Malkajgiri LS constituency in 2014 on the BRS ticket. He later joined the Congress and became the candidate in 2019, but was defeated.

In the 2019 elections the BRS decided to give ticket to a newcomer, G Ranjith Reddy. He defeated Vishweshwar Reddy. Though the BRS had changed candidates twice it emerged victorious.

With the changed political scenario where the Congress came to power in the elections held in November-December 2023, leaders have switched to other parties. While Vishweshwar Reddy joined the BJP, Ranjith Reddy jumped to the Congress. They became candidates of the two parties respectively. Though officially Ranjith Reddy was not named it is learnt that he would be given ticket. Interestingly, he had expressed his inability to contest while he was in BRS.

With two important leaders out of the party and others not keen to contest, the BRS has decided to bank on veteran Gnaneshwar Mudiraj, who joined the BRS after resigning from Telugu Desam just before the Assembly elections when the TDP decided to stay away from polls. With three candidates having the background of BRS, party leaders said it was a battle between the BRS leaders.