Hyderabad: The 10 Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLAs who had defected to the ruling Congress after the December 2023 Telangana Assembly elections are reportedly in a quandary. It has been learnt that most of the BRS legislators are wary of contesting by-elections and have reportedly approached the party leadership to return.
Patancheru MLA’s U-turn fuels speculation
More recently, Patancheru MLA Mahipal Reddy had caused a flutter after he met BRS supremo and ex-Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR), with speculation rife that he was returning to the BRS. He had defected to the Congress in 2024.
The BRS Patancheru MLA also surprised everyone last month when he told the Supreme Court that he is still a member of the BRS, in response 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 MLAs who had shifted to the Congress, but had not resigned, are also likely to do the same.
Fear of by-polls, opposition from Congress troubling defectors
“The party leadership has told them no when they approached us seeking to return. Since they never resigned and joined the Congress, they are still listed on paper with the BRS. Most of them are scared to contest by-elections because they fear losing as the Congress is not in a good position currently,” said a senior BRS functionary who did not want to be named.
A political analyst also told Siasat.com that the defected BRS MLAs are also not sure to get a ticket 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,” he added.
According to the rules, when any MLA defects, they have to resign and contest by-elections unless two-thirds of their party shifts entirely. Called the anti-defection law, it does not come into effect if two-thirds of the party’s legislature defects. This had happened in Telangana earlier when the BRS was in power. KCR had engineered defections of 12 Congress MLAs out of 18 after the 2018 state elections, virtually ending the Opposition in the Assembly.
Former Telangana deputy chief minister Kadiam Srihari and ex-minister Danam Nagender are among the prominent BRS leaders who defected after the elections. “After the 2023 elections, the Congress was expecting more MLAs to defect, but that did not happen. And since there is opposition from within against the defected MLAs, it is also difficult for them,” a Congress leader from Hyderabad stated.
