Bharat Rashtra Samithi president and former Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is facing the similar situation being faced by YSR Congress party president Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy in Andhra Pradesh.
It is the defection of sitting MPs, who are likely to be denied party tickets for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
The BRS witnessed the fall of the first such wicket – resignation of sitting MP from Peddapalli Lok Sabha constituency Borlakunta Venkatesh Netha from the party and his defection to the Congress within hours.
The immediate provocation for Venkatesh Netha’s defection to the Congress is the reports that the BRS chief is planning to drop as many as seven of the nine sitting BRS MPs in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Sources said KCR may retain only two sitting MPs – G Ranjith Reddy from Chevella and Nama Nageshwar Rao from Khammam. Already, Medak MP Kotha Prabhakar Reddy resigned from the Lok Sabha membership on getting elected to the state assembly from Dubbak.
The remaining six MPs – Venkatesh Netha from Peddapalli, Pasunoori Dayakar from Warangal, Manne Srinivas Reddy from Mahabubnagar, B B Patil from Zaheerabad, Pothuganti Ramulu from Nagarkurnool and Malothu Kavitha from Mahabubabad – are likely to be dropped.
Of these six MPs, at least three MPs are likely to defect to the Congress, say sources, while others might be hoping for a better opportunity if the BRS comes back to power in the next term.
In Andhra Pradesh, too, Jagan is facing a similar situation.
While Narasarpuram MP K Raghu Ramakrishna Raju has already turned a rebel for the party and has obviously been dropped, three other MPs – Lavu Krishna Devarayalu, Dr Sanjeev Kumar and V Balashowry have quit the party to join the parties of their choice.
Another sitting MP – Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy from Ongole – is also ready to call it quits to the YSRCP.
A couple of other MPs, like Gorantla Madhav from Hindupur and G Madhavi from Araku were also dropped, they have not made any moves so far to defect to other parties.