NAVEENA GHANATE
Hyderabad
BRS candidates who won with minor margins in the 2018 elections and by-elections are on tenterhooks now.
Even though Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has announced 115 candidates, many MLAs are facing anti-incumbency. Sources said that this is reportedly more in areas where margins were very low.
Sources said that even in surveys conducted by the BRS, the party is lagging behind in Khammam and Nalgonda districts. Mahbubnagar may also join the league. Candidates announced in these districts may change if survey results continue to be bad.
Sources said that as part of last-minute poll management, some candidates may change. For instance, in Nalgonda at least in six constituencies in 2018, the margin was less than 10,000 for all the candidates of all parties. Likewise in Khammam, at least in six constituencies, the winning margin was less than 10,000.
Interestingly, the BRS seems to have not gained much in the last five years in these two districts. BRS sources said, “Nalgonda and Khammam are not BRS strongholds, but have emerged over the last two terms. These two places were with the Congress earlier. People prefer to give a chance to someone new always. For instance, if you eat something too often, you start disliking it. You give a gap and then after a few years, you would want to taste it again. The same is the case now. But wherever we see such changes we go there immediately and campaign.”
It may be mentioned here that at least 30 candidates of all parties won with margins of less than 10,000 in the 2018 Assembly elections. Nearly 50 candidates of all parties won with margins of less than 20,000.
Nalgonda has Congress veterans like Uttam Kumar Reddy, Jana Reddy, Komatireddy Venkat Reddy and Uttam Padmavathi and those who moved to the BJP like Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy. Khammam has become a problem for the BRS with Thummala Nageshwar raising his voice after being refused a ticket.
