Urban areas a gap in its Assembly win last year, Telangana Congress makes a push through civic bodies for LS polls

Earlier this week, former Hyderabad deputy mayor Mothe Srilatha switched from the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) to the Congress, following in the footsteps of a host of leaders including other ex-Hyderabad mayors such as Bonthu Rammohan and Teegala Krishna Reddy, and former deputy mayor Baba Fasiuddin.

Since the Revanth Reddy-led government took over the reins of Telangana in December last year, a number of sitting councillors and corporators have defected from the BRS or are in talks with the grand old party, while no-trust motions have been moved against BRS municipal chairpersons, vice-chairpersons and mayors across the state.

Congress insiders say the move is a part of the party’s strategy to cut losses it suffered in urban areas, especially in and around Hyderabad, even as it came to power winning 64 of the 119 seats in last year’s Assembly polls.

Sources say the party has dubbed the strategy to wean away BRS leaders as ‘Operation Aakarsh’, and put it at work within days of Reddy becoming CM. One of the first moves was the cancellation of the extensions given by the BRS to 54 various corporations. The BRS hoped to “placate” those who could not be given tickets for the Assembly elections.

Among the urban local bodies which have seen no-confidence motions against chairpersons or vice-chairpersons, many are in districts of Warangal, Mahbubnagar, Nalgonda, Bhupalapally, Mahbubabad and Hyderabad. On Wednesday, the Congress and BJP joined hands in the Bhongir municipality to oust the BRS chairperson.

Startled by the pace of the upsets in the municipal bodies, some BRS councillors moved the Telangana High Court in January against their own rebellious chairpersons and vice-chairpersons. However, the court denied any respite.

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