TRS to unseat 30% MLAs for 2019 polls
One in three TRS legislators will not be nominated for the 2019 elections, according to top sources in the party.
According to these sources, TRS president and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has instructed key managers of the party to search for alternative candidates in at least 30 Assembly seats out of the 90 that the party holds now in view of the poor performance of the incumbents.
“Nowhere in the past has any ruling party renominated all MLAs. Largescale changes will happen here too,” a key source said.
Party sources said former MP Gaddam Vivek will be fielded from the Peddapalli Lok Sabha seat, and this had been conveyed to Mr Balka Suman who holds the seat. Mr Suman will be fielded from one of the seats reserved for the SC community in the erstwhile Karimnagar district.
Nalgonda MP Gutta Sukhender Reddy will be fielded from a key Assembly seat in the district. Party MLC Palla Rajeswara Reddy will be pitted as a Lok Sabha candidate from Nalgonda.
“At least three MPs out of 14 will be fielded as MLAs. Party leaders have been asked to search for replacements to 20 MLAs,” said another key source.
These MLAs, sources said, did not improve their performance despite being specifically warned by Mr Chandrasekhar Rao, who periodically conducts surveys to know the pulse of the people.
With regard to an MLA from the erstwhile Ranga Reddy district, the Chief Minister was not happy as he had taken money to vote for the TD candidate in the 2015 Council polls.
Mr Rao was said to have personally warned a legislator from the erstwhile Karimnagar district against collecting bribes from the public but he had ignored the Chief Minister.
Key managers have been spreading word across the party that 15 MLAs will not get renomination, which comes to 15 per cent. “But a minimum of one third of MLAs won’t get renomination for sure,” said a source.