Telangana Rashtra Samithi president and chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has realised that he cannot leave the battle field to his party leaders, including his own son K T Rama Rao in any election, since they failed to tackle the opposition.
KCR told his party leaders at a meeting on Monday that he would directly enter the scene in the forthcoming by-election to the Nagarajunsagar assembly seat and personally monitor the electioneering.
“I have seen the result in Dubbak assembly by-polls and also elections to the GHMC, when I did not intervene in the strategies and the campaign and left it to the party leaders. You people have failed to counter the opposition attack and attract the voters to the expectations,” he said.
The TRS could win the two MLC seats in the recent elections in the graduates’ constituencies only because KCR personally supervised the campaign strategy, right from the selection of candidates to the monetary issues.
He also managed to lure the disgruntled elements from other parties, thereby splitting the opposition votes.
KCR is now adopting the same strategy in Nagarjunasagar. After maintaining suspense over the selection of the candidates till the penultimate day, he suddenly announced the name of Nomula Bhagat, son of deceased MLA Nomula Narasimhaiah.
He identified the disgruntled aspirants in the party and offered them MLC seats. And on Tuesday, the TRS chief successfully lured the dissident leaders from the BJP into the TRS.
Kadari Anjaiah Yadav, who was desperately hoping for the BJP seat in Nagarjunasagar, expressed serious displeasure over the selection of Dr Ravi Naik as the party candidate. He thought of filing his nomination as a BJP rebel, but he got a surprising call from Pragati Bhavan.
By afternoon, Anjaiah came to Hyderabad and met the TRS chief, who admitted him in the TRS and assured him of a good position in the coming days. Earlier, the local TRS leaders held talks with Anjaiah and convinced him to join the TRS for a better future.
Another aspirant for the BJP ticket Kankanala Nivedita Reddy was also disappointed with the party for not giving her the party ticket, but said she would drop out from the race. However, the TRS leadership is said to be in touch with her, sources said.