HYDERABAD: The ruling TRS party may not have gotten the ‘sweet 16’ it had hoped for, but the one party that woke up to Christmas was, needless to say, the BJP in Telangana, bagging four major seats in the State. Besides their startling victory, the BJP State unit can now flaunt its accomplishment of being on par with the Congress, in addition to being a potential alternative for TRS.
The saffron party seems to be a firm believer in comebacks. After a major setback in the recent Assembly elections, the party’s State unit surprised itself by not just doubling its vote and seat share, but also winning more than what it could have imagined. Its vote share has shot up from a meagre 7 per cent during the Assembly elections to 19.2 per cent in the Lok Sabha polls.
The party is all set to contribute four parliamentarians, after capturing the northern part of Telangana, with wins in Adilabad, Nizamabad and Karimnagar, besides retaining its stronghold, Secunderabad.
The BJP managed to defeat Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s daughter K Kavitha in Nizamabad through its candidate Dharmapuri Arvind, a first-timer. Even KCR’s close aide B Vinod Kumar bowed out, with Bandi Sanjay Kumar’s victory. In Adilabad, Soyam Bapurao beat G Nagesh, an incumbent. Secunderabad, as expected, was won by the BJP’s three-time MLA G Kishan Reddy, who contested as an MP for the first time. Both Kishan Reddy and Bandi Sanjay Kumar had lost in the Assembly elections.
“We had a good presence in Karimnagar and Nizamabad, and due to the reorganisation of districts, some of our stronghold segments got mixed between the constituencies, helping us win,” Kishan Reddy said.
Kishan Reddy likely to get berth in Union Cabinet
Hyderabad: Senior BJP leader G Kishan Reddy, who is set to take oath as a MP from Secunderabad segment, is most likely to get a place in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s next cabinet. Kishan Reddy has been a three-time BJP MLA and has worked in the party at different levels. He may also become the BJYM president. His close proximity to the prime minister is a known fact. Besides, Kishan Reddy is well connected to several Union ministers. Now that the saffron party wants to make headway into Telangana, representation in the Union Cabinet of Narendra Modi is a likely compulsion.
Lotus blooms in karimnagar after two decades
Karimnagar: After 20 long years, the lotus has bloomed once again in Karimnagar. BJP’s Bandi Sanjay Kumar romped to victory in the constituency, defeating none other than TRS’ Boinapally Vinod Kumar, a close confidante of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao. Sanjay Kumar secured 4,97,462 votes, almost 90,000 votes more than Vinod Kumar. It is important to note that not a single Assembly segment, that is part Karimnagar Lok Sabha constituency, is represented by a BJP member. In fact, two of these segments are represented by TRS biggies — working chief KT Rama Rao and minister Eatela Rajender
Arvind benefits from Modi wave, stuns Kavitha
Nizamabad: Though D Arvind has always sounded confident of winning the prestigious Nizamabad seat, it looks like, the BJP candidate has benefited from the Modi wave in recording a stunning and memorable victory over K Kavitha. Every one thought that Nizamabad — which attracted nation-wide attention after 174 turmeric and red jowar farmers entered fray to highlight their problems — would be a cake walk for incumbent Kavitha, the daughter of TRS chief and CM K Chandrasekhar Rao. However, it is Arvind who emerged the winner with a margin of more than 70,000.
Saffron party opens its account in tribal segment
Adilabad: In the 67 years of Adilabad’s existence as a district, the Bharatiya Janata Party has not once represented it in the State Assembly or the Parliament. On Thursday, the Adivasi leader Soyam Bapu Rao scripted history by defeating the TRS candidate and sitting MP G Nagesh with a margin of 58,493 votes. Bapu Rao, rose to prominence during the Adivasi and Lambada agitations. He was earlier refused a ticket by the Congress, following which he joined the BJP to contest from the Adilabad Lok Sabha segment and won. His last victory was from Boath seat in 2004