Vote for friendship: KCR’s BRS to support AIMIM nominee in Local Body MLC election

HYDERABAD: As largely anticipated, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) has decided to once again support the candidate of its all-weather ally, the AIMIM, in the forthcoming MLC election for the Local Body constituency. The decision was taken by BRS supremo and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) in due consideration of a request made by the AIMIM to this effect.

The AIMIM had urged the Telangana ruling party to allot the MLC seat (Local Authorities constituency) to it and support its candidate in the ensuing elections. After considering the request, KCR decided to support the AIMIM, thus repeating the same gesture the BRS (then TRS) extended to its ally in the previous local body MLC election in 2017..

After consulting the party senior leaders, the BRS chief decided to extend full support to the AIMIM candidate in the biennial elections to Hyderabad Local body constituency. The formal decision of the BRS brought the curtains down on the speculation that has been in the air ever since the notification for the March-13 MLC elections in Telangana was issued.

On a day of swift developments, AIMIM chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi announced party leader Mirza Rahmat Baig as its MLC candidate for the Local Authorities Constituency election. Last time, the party nominated veteran journalist Syed Aminul Hasan Jafri as its candidate who was elected to the Legislative Council with the backing of the then TRS.

Meanwhile, in yet another repeat of last-time’s gesture, the BRS is also expected to abstain from fielding its candidate for the Teachers’ constituency (Hyderabad-Rangareddy-Mahbubnagar), which will also go to polls on the same day. In 2017, then TRS not only stayed away from the contest but extended its full support to the candidate of Progressive Recognised Teachers’ Union (PRTU-TS). This time too, the BRS is speculated to repeat the same but with a possible replacement of the candidate.

Significantly, this will be the first election in any form for the BRS since the time it transformed itself from its erstwhile countenance of the TRS. Despite its significance, KCR is reportedly moving ahead with the same intention of lending the BRS support to one of its most trusted allies. The results of the March-13 MLC elections for the Local Body and Teachers constituencies will be out on March 16.

In the 2017 elections, PRTU-TS candidate Katepalli Janardhan Reddy emerged victorious from the Teachers’ Constituency while AIMIM’s candidate Syed Aminul Hasan Jafri was elected to the Telangana Legislative Council from the Local Authorities constituency. Their individual term ends on March 29, 2023 and May 1, 2023 respectively.