As the fate of 10 BRS MLAs, who had defected to the ruling Congress after December 2023 assembly polls, are fearing due to the threat of facing by-polls. As their fate is hanging in the Supreme Court, which has reserved its verdict, most of them have reportedly approached BRS leadership to return the party.
After recently Patancheru MLA Mahipal Reddy had met BRS supremo and former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, speculation is rife that he was returning to the BRS. He also surprised everyone last month when he told the Supreme Court that he is still a member of the BRS.
He responded to a petition filed by working president KT Rama Rao (KTR) urging the Telangana Speaker to expedite decisions on disqualification petitions against defected MLAs. Other defected MLAs also still not officially resigned from the BRS and not informed the Speaker about their shifting of the party.
A senior BRS leader admitted that most of the defected MLAs have approached them intending to return the party. However, he said the party leadership is not showing interest in taking them back. Interestingly, since they never resigned and joined the Congress, they are still listed on paper with the BRS.
Most of them are reportedly scared to contest by-elections because they fear losing as the Congress is now facing severe opposition from various sections of the population. Moreover, the defected BRS MLAs are also not sure to get a ticket from the Congress to contest from the same Assembly seats, as there will be opposition from Congress leaders whom they had contested against.
“The people in the ruling party will be expecting tickets for by-elections as well. Moreover, the BJP is also getting stronger, so it will be a triangular contest, decreasing the chances of winning again for the BRS leaders,” a defected MLA expressed his apprehensions to contest as Congress candidate.
The defected MLAs are also facing discontent from the existing Congress leaders in their respective constituencies. In fact, the Congress leadership expected atleast half of BRS MLAs to shift their loyalties towards Congress, but they were unable to attract more than 10 MLAs.