BB Patil could find the going tough in Zaheerabad

Protests within the BJP, initiated on Saturday opposing the leadership's choice to nominate BB Patil from Zaheerabad, are expected to persist.

Sangareddy: The protests within the BJP, which already began on Saturday against the leadership’s decision to field BB Patil from Zaheerabad, are likely to continue.

Patil was given the opportunity within 24 hours of joining the BJP after resigning from the BRS. Patil, who won from Zaheerabad in 2014 and 2019 on BRS ticket, has dashed the hopes of several others, including M Jaipal Reddy, who had quit the BRS a few years ago following differences with Patil and joined the BJP.

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The other disappointed BJP leaders include former MP Ale Narendra’s son, Ale Bhaskar, who was lobbying for the ticket, apart from Banala Lakshma Reddy, who had contested from Zaheerabad in a losing cause in 2019. Industrialist Medapati Prakash Reddy was also among the aspirants.

Since Patil had worked against BJP candidates in the recent assembly elections touring all the seven assembly constituencies, it remains to be seen how these BJP leaders will support him in his Lok Sabha poll campaign.

A BJP leader from Zaheerabad said every BJP leader in the constituency considered Patil as their rival because he had worked to defeat the party’s MLA candidates in 2023, which was still fresh in their memory. More protests, apart from Saturday’s protest at the State party office, are expected to be witnessed in the constituency, he said.