HYDERABAD: Riding on strong Telangana sentiment, four TRS candidates and an independent backed by the party won in the bypolls held for seven constituencies in Andhra Pradesh, in which ruling Congress drew a blank while BJP sprang a surprise by bagging the lone seat it contested.
In Kovur, the lone seat in non-Telangana regions where bypolls were after the sitting TDP MLA quit in support of Jaganmohan Reddy, N Prasanna Kumar Reddy of YSR Congress romped home though the official result is yet to be announced.
The bypoll results are a setback for the ruling Congress and the TDP which drew a blank. Among the winning candidates, two were last time elected on Congress ticket but had resigned and joined TRS to recontest.
The same was the case for two others who had resigned from TDP and joined K Chandrasekhar Rao's party. The Independent candidate was also a TDP MLA who had quit over the Telangana issue.
The results are an embarrassment for the Congress government, more importantly as it stood third in Kovur.
It is a blow for main opposition Telugu Desam Party too as its candidates lost security deposits in three seats. The only face-saver for the party is that it stood second in two seats.
The TRS candidates bagged Adilabad, Station Ghanpur, Kollapur and Kamareddy constituencies, while the Independent candidate and a former TDP leader won in Nagarkurnool.
The BJP, which has aggressively taken up separate statehood agitation, managed to win the fiercely contested Mahabubnagar seat.
In Kamareddy, TRS candidate Gampa Govardhan won over his nearest Congress rival A Raja Reddy by a margin of over 44,000 votes.
In Kollapur, TRS nominee Jupally Krishna Rao defeated his nearest Congress rival M Vishnuvardhan Reddy by a margin of over 15,000 votes.
TRS' Jogu Ramanna has won the Adilabad seat with a margin of over 31,396 votes over his Congress rival C Ramachandra Reddy.
In Station Ghanpur, T Rajaiah of TRS secured victory over his nearest TDP rival Kadiam Srihari by a majority of over 32,000 votes.
BJP's Y Srinivasa Reddy bagged the Mahabubnagar constituency by a margin of over 1800 votes.
Independent and former TDP leader Nagam Janardhan Reddy won the Nagar Kurnool segment by defeating his nearest Congress rival K Damodar Reddy by a margin of 27,325 votes.
With today's victories, the strength of TRS in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly goes upto 16.
However, the victory of BJP in Mahabubnagar is seen as an embarassment for TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao as he refused to let the saffron party contest the poll though both are partners in the Telangana political Joint Action Committee (JAC).
The bypolls are necessitated in five seats due to the resignation of sitting MLAs in support of separate Telangana demand.
The sitting MLA died in Mahabubnagar which caused the March 18 bypoll.