With dissidence brewing in the party, the BRS chose to stand by a tainted senior leader and nephew of the state chief minister, T Harish Rao, who is charged with corruption by Mynampally Hanumantha Rao, a BRS MLA from Malkajgiri constituency.
Hanumantha Rao found his name in the list of BRS candidates released on Monday but is seeking a party ticket for his son Mynampally Rohith from the Medak constituency. Even before the BRS list was released by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao at 2:38 pm, he fired a salvo at Harish Rao who holds the key portfolios of finance and health departments.
The Malkajgiri MLA accused the minister of stalling development in Medak and vowed to defeat him from Siddipet though the latter usually wins with a record margin. “I will not sleep until I remove Harish Rao from Medak,” he asserted while accusing Harish Rao of corruption.
He added the minister who had possessed only rubber footwear and an iron trunk had now amassed huge assets through illegal means.
He was miffed with Harish Rao since his attempts to field his son from Medak fell flat and Padma Devender Reddy, known to be close to the finance minister, bagged re-nomination.
The Malkajgiri MLA is expected to secure tickets from the Congress, one for himself and another for his son.
Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, however, left the decision to the MLA saying he had welcomed him when he wanted a ticket, but he was free to join any other party. However, he warned the dissidents that they would be thrown out since the BRS was a highly-disciplined party. Harish Rao was right beside him when he released the list of candidates.
Meanwhile, BRS working president KT Rama Rao, who is away due to personal reasons, took to micro-blogging site X to stand by Harish Rao. He posted, “One of our MLAs who was denied a ticket to his family members in an outburst has made some derogatory comments on minister Harish Rao garu, I not only strongly condemn the MLA’s behaviour and also want to make it clear that we all stand with Harish Garu. He has been an integral founding member of the BRS party since its inception and will continue to remain an important pillar of the party as we move forward.”
He also consoled those who deserve a party but could not be accommodated assuring them that they would be given a chance some other way.