Telangana polls: Discontent among Cong leaders over denial of election tickets, flock to BRS

Hyderabad: Ahead of the November 30 Assembly polls in Telangana, the Congress' state unit is witnessing dissent over ticket distribution, with disgruntled party leaders flocking towards the ruling BRS which is actively wooing them.

The denial of tickets has prompted some key leaders, including former ministers to bid adieu to the grand old party, only to be quickly welcomed by the K Chandrasekhar Rao-led Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS). 

In the ruling saddle since 2014, BRS is eyeing a hattrick of electoral triumphs this time.
Responding, the Congress said winnability was a major selection criteria to pick nominees for the electoral battle.

Among the disgruntled Congress leaders who chose to switch sides is former minister Nagam Janardhan Reddy.

Reddy had quit the party and called on BRS president Chandrasekhar Rao on Sunday after being invited to join the party.
Similarly, former MLA P Vishnu Vardhan Reddy, son of late Congress veteran P Janardhan Reddy, had also met KCR, as Rao is known, after not being named as candidate for the Jubilee Hills seat in Hyderabad.

Former cricketer Mohammad Azharuddin is Congress' choice for the constituency.
The party had announced its second list of 45 candidates on October 27. With this, it has named its nominees for 100 out of the total 119 assembly seats.

Upset over being denied nomination, several aspirants expressed resentment. Some of them are likely to join the BRS.

Peeved supporters of Vishnu Vardhan Reddy tore up posters and hurled stones at Gandhi Bhavan, the state Congress headquarters, two days ago after they were reportedly denied entry.

The grand old party, however, has given ticket to Vishnu Vardhan Reddy's sister Vijaya Reddy from Khairatabad here.
Ex-MLA Erra Sekhar had joined the BRS after failing to get a chance to contest the polls.

Earlier, former PCC president Ponnala Lakshmiah, who had also served as a minister, quit the Congress and joined the BRS after the party leadership denied opportunity for him to contest from his Jangaon seat when it released the first list.

Subhash Reddy, another aspirant, broke down as his name did not figure in the list of candidates.

Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee vice president Chamala Kiran Kumar Reddy said on Tuesday that the party has taken winnability as a major factor in the selection of candidates, having been out of power in the state for about 10 years.

However the party was trying to pacify and accommodate those who were denied tickets, he told PTI. 
Meanwhile, speculation is rife that former MP Vivek Venkataswamy would quit the BJP and return to the Congress.