Karimnagar: In a big blow to the BRS in Karimnagar, former mayor Sardar Ravinder Singh is set to contest the Graduates MLC elections on an All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) ticket. The development comes just days after mayor Y. Sunil Rao left the BRS for the BJP ahead of his tenure’s end.
Ravinder Singh, who earlier ran as an independent in the 2021 local body MLC elections — with backing from the BJP after BRS leaders Bhanuprasad Rao and L. Ramana were awarded tickets by party chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao — lost that race. Facing a dilemma over dual party affiliations, Singh opted for the national AIFB platform after being denied a ticket by BRS, a move aimed at avoiding the disadvantage of an independent candidacy on the ballot.
A similar scenario unfolded with former degree college lecturer Prasanna Harikrishna, who, after being denied tickets by both Congress and BRS, filed his nomination with the BSP. Initially submitting independent nominations, Harikrishna finally aligned with BSP for the final filing.