SNCN ACHARYULU
Hyderabad
‘Friday fever’ has gripped BRS leaders in the run for Assembly tickets. Sources close to BRS President Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao says that most probably the CM may announce the first list of Assembly candidates on Friday.
KCR strongly believes in tradition. He thinks that after the beginning of the ‘Nija Sravana Masam’ on Thursday, the first Friday is very auspicious. During the last Assembly elections too KCR announced his party’s list on a Friday.
Sources said that KCR held lengthy discussions about the list of candidates with BRS Working President IT Minister KT Rama Rao and Finance Minister T. Harish Rao on Wednesday at the Pragathi Bhavan indicating that the list would be announced on Friday.
In Telangana, the total number of Assembly seats is 119 and the first list of BRS candidates is likely to have around 90 names. As KCR is finalising candidates some sitting BRS MLAs are facing rough weather with party leaders.
Some BRS leaders are openly asking the leadership not to give tickets their MLA and some panchayats are contacting Pragathi Bhavan directly. KCR is appeasing dissidents by summoning them to Pragathi Bhavan and promising to do justice to them after coming to power.
Meanwhile, high tension has gripped BRS ticket hunters as they came to know that the first list will be out on Friday. Some leaders are thinking what to do if their names are not in the first list.
KCR is taking precautions so that no leader leaves the party after the list is announced.
There is heavy demand for Assembly tickets from BRS leaders in all Assembly constituencies. Some senior leaders who think that they may not get the ticket are proposing their family members in their place. Many sitting BRS MLAs have proposed their close relatives as their political heirs. But what decision KCR would take will be known only once the list of candidates is announced.
