Parachute leaders get 29 tickets in Congress, 18 in BJP

Parachute leaders! This is the term used for those leaders who change their party affiliation at the last moment and secure the ticket of the party they join. These are usually late entrants, but somehow manage to get the ticket to contest. At least 48 candidates have changed their party at the last moment and got the ticket of another party.

For instance, the Congress has given tickets to 24 leaders, who left the BRS and joined the party barely few days ahead of the election notification. Among them are Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, Vemula Veeresam, Jupally Krishna Rao, Mandula Samuel, Mynampalli Hanumanth Rao and Tummala Nageswara Rao. Five BJP leaders too got the Congress tickets. They include Kandi Srinivas Reddy and Gaddam Vivek.

It’s not just the Congress Party. Even the BJP did this. The BJP has given tickets to eight Congress leaders. They include Marri Sasidhar Reddy from Sanathnagar, Kuna Srisailam Goud from Qutbullahpur, Eleti Maheswar Reddy from Nirmal and Ramachandra Rajanarsimha from Zaheerabad. The BJP also gave tickets to 10 BRS turncoats. They include Krishna Yadav, Arepalli Mohan and Kandula Sandhya Rani.

At least one Congress leader was given the BSP ticket. He is Neelam Madhu from Patancheru. Many other leaders like Manavatha Roy, Erra Sekhar, Tula Uma, Raman Goud and others too have shifted their loyalties after they were denied tickets. However, they could not get tickets even for the party they joined.