Council biennial elections: BRS netas begin jockeying for three TS Council berths

Hyderabad: Ahead of Council elections, the Bharat Rashtra Samithileaders have started lobbying for the MLC posts even as the Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao is focusing on accommodating leaders from backward caste communities.

While there are three seats going to be vacant under the MLA quota, there is tough competition between the leaders to get the post as several big leaders were expecting Council berths.

According to party sources, the sitting member Naveen Rao from Hyderabad is likely to get another term. Naveen Rao is from the same community as the chief minister. The party leaders said that there is big competition among the leaders for the remaining two seats which is going to be vacant by the end of March. The Election Commission had issued a schedule for the biennial election for the three seats under the MLA quota.

Sources said that the BRS chief is looking to accommodate the leaders from BC communities. The name of former Alair MLA B Bikshamaiah Goud was doing rounds. Bikshamaiah Goud was promised the post when he joined the party during the Munugodu bye election. Bikshmaiah Goud's name gets significant because another senior leader of the party from Bhongir district Dr Bhoora Narsaiah Goud left the party. Similarly, the names of BC leaders like Dasoju Sravan Kumar and K Swamy Goud were also doing rounds. It is learnt that the leaders have presented their case before the party's working president KT Rama Rao. Both these leaders joined BRS during the Munugodu bye election.

BRS is a party which gives priority to the BCs in the legislative bodies. BRS has been fighting for the BC census and a separate ministry for the backward classes, said a senior leader. Along with the BCs, there are talks about accommodating Motkupally Narsimhulu as he is form the Dalit community. The government has named the new Secretariat after Dr BR Ambedkar and also coming up with a 125-feet tall statue in the city. There are speculations that a Dalit leader may also get one post.

Along with the BCs, the upper caste leaders are also vying for the MLC posts. The name of senior leader and former minister Tummala Nageswara Rao is doing rounds. The speculations have increased after the senior leader's interaction during the Khammam visit of the Chief Minister. Tummala's interaction with the Chief Minister has put rest to the speculations of the BRS leader leaving the party. The name of chief minister's OSD Deshapati Srinivas was also doing round for the post of MLC.