The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) which was in power in Telangana from 2014 to 2023 appears to be heading into trouble with the desertion of three of its nine sitting MPs (Lok Sabha) in less than a month as the ruling parties — Congress in the State and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at Centre — are leaving no stone unturned to weaken it.
Although the BRS leadership was considering change of at least half of the sitting MPs for the coming election based on the party’s performance in Parliamentary constituencies represented by the party in the last December Assembly elections and surveys employed later, joining of one of its MP with Congress and two with BJP since February 6 is having some adverse impact on the party’s psyche.
After B. Venkatesh Netha (Peddapalli) joined Congress on February 6, P. Ramulu (Nagarkurnool) and B.B. Patil (Zaheerabad) joined BJP on February 29 and March 1, respectively. “We have information that the BJP is trying to woo at least another three of our MPs by employing all sorts of tactics at its disposal. We are at work to retain them, but it depends on how the leaders look at their interests, particularly their business/commercial ones,” a BRS leader said, when contacted.
