Hyderabad

A day after Bharat Rashtra Samithi president and Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao announced the list of 115 candidates for the upcoming elections to the 119-member state assembly, disgruntled BRS legislator Ajmeera Rekha Naik switched loyalties to the Congress on Tuesday.

Taking a dig at the BRS leadership for denying her the ticket, the two-time MLA from Khanapur in Kumaram Bheem-Asifabad district formally submitted her application in Gandhi Bhavan seeking the Congress ticket from her constituency.

Rekha Naik told reporters that she would be joining the Congress in a day or two. She alleged that she had become a victim of conspiracy hatched by a few leaders. “I am going to fight the elections again from Khanapur and I shall teach a lesson to the BRS. I have the support of the people, as I have been serving them for the last 10 years,” she said.

Hours after she was denied the BRS ticket, her husband Shyam Naik, a senior state government official who took voluntary retirement from service and joined politics recently, joined the Congress in the presence of Pradesh Congress Committee president A Revanth Reddy.

He requested the party ticket from Asifabad constituency, while his wife would like to contest from Khanapur. Revanth Reddy assured that either of them would be given the ticket.

Meanwhile, BRS legislator from Malkajgiri Mynampalli Hanumantha Rao, who raised a banner of revolt against the BRS leadership on Monday for denying ticket to his son M Rohit from Medak constituency, said on Tuesday that he would stand by his words.

“My son will definitely contest the elections from Medak, even if the BRS has not given him the ticket. If they (BRS leaders) create any troubles for me, I shall give them a fitting reply,” Rao said, reacting to the protests being staged by the BRS leaders in Malkajgiri against him.

Rao, who was one of the sitting MLAs given party tickets again, initially said he would stand by the party decision on giving the tickets, but he is likely to be dropped from the list. The chief minister told the reporters on Monday that it was for the MLA to decide whether he would contest the elections on the BRS ticket or not. “If he wants to defy the party line, disciplinary action would be taken against him,” KCR said.

A senior BRS functionary privy to the development said Hanumantha Rao might be replaced by M Rajasekhar Reddy, son-in-law of labour minister Ch Malla Reddy. “An announcement will be made in a day or two,” he said.

Another BRS legislator and former deputy chief minister T Rajaiah, who was also denied the ticket from Station Ghanpur constituency, broke down before the statue of B R Ambedkar and said he had not expected the development.

“I never made any comment against the chief minister and served the party sincerely. However, I am not going to take any hasty decision but continue to work for the party,” he said.

Similarly, another BRS lawmaker Bapu Rao Rathod from Boath assembly constituency also expressed unhappiness for being the party ticket. “But I won’t quit the party. I hope KCR will do justice to me in some other form,” he said.