Hyderabad, August 22: Former Telangana Deputy Chief Minister, Thatikonda Rajaiah, publicly expressed his distress today after the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) denied him a ticket for the upcoming Assembly elections.
Rajaiah, who is the sitting MLA from Station Ghanpur, was overlooked by the party, which instead chose to field another former Deputy CM and senior leader, Kadiyam Srihari.
Emotion overwhelmed Rajaiah as he knelt before the statue of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar in his constituency on Tuesday. Addressing his supporters at his office, he mentioned that Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had previously promised him a higher position within the party and affirmed his commitment to follow the party chief’s directive.
Rajaiah had held the Station Ghanpur seat since 2009. Following the formation of Telangana in 2014, he was appointed one of two deputies to Chief Minister KCR and entrusted with the health portfolio.
However, in 2015, KCR removed Rajaiah from the Cabinet amid allegations of corruption within the health department. Since then, Rajaiah had been gradually marginalized within the party. Nevertheless, in 2018, he was granted a party ticket for the same constituency and successfully retained the seat.
This time, he was denied a ticket due to allegations of sexual harassment brought forth by a village sarpanch from his own party.
In recent weeks, a fierce rivalry had unfolded in the constituency between the factions supporting Rajaiah and Srihari, both vying for the coveted party ticket.
On Monday, KCR announced BRS candidates for 115 out of 119 Assembly seats, with the party retaining 95 percent of the current MLAs. The Assembly elections are scheduled to take place in November-December.
