Saffron Party on a Winning High in Hyderabad

HYDERABAD: It was a bitter-sweet moment for TDP chief and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu as well as his Telangana counterpart and TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao.

Naidu’s ally, the BJP, came out with flying colours, winning one of the two MLC seats that went to polls in Telangana - that too in the Hyderabad-Ranga Reddy-Mahbubnagar constituency. But Naidu’s party, TDP, lost one MLC seat in AP - in the twin Godavari districts that is considered its bastion -- while it pocketed the MLC seat in the state’s new capital region.

Sharing the same fate as the TDP, the TRS lost the MLC seat in Hyderabad to the BJP. But it managed to win in Warangal region, the heart of Telangana.

The BJP’s victory is all the more discomfiting for the ruling TRS as the saffron party is going all-out to expand its base in Telangana with an eye on the ensuing corporation polls in Hyderabad.

“My victory indicates good days are ahead for the BJP in Telangana. I am sure we will win the ensuing Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation polls with the cooperation from our ally TDP,” said Ramachander Rao, the party’s winning candidate in the Hyderabad-Ranga Reddy-Mahbubnagar graduates’ constituency.

The defeat of the TRS and TDP is being seen as reflective of the growing dissatisfaction among the educated over their policies in their respective states.

TRS candidate and Telangana joint action committee leader G Deviprasad Rao’s defeat at the hands of Ramachander in Hyderabad MLC constituency is being attributed to the unhappiness among the unemployed over the TRS Government’s failure in filling vacancies in the state government.

“As the TRS failed to keep its promise of providing one job to each family in the state, graduates taught it a fitting lesson in the MLC polls,” said Telangana Congress leader Mohammed Ali Shabbir.

Telangana TDP leader A Revanth Reddy went a step further, saying the results indicated that people, particularly the educated, are vexed with the TRS Government. Some party leaders blamed Deviprasad for not roping in top party leaders for the poll campaign.

Some others pointed at the fact that a majority of the voters in the segment are from Seemandhra.

A few claimed internal sabotage, alleging that a section of the party worked against the candidate.

Some others in the TRS felt the BJP had implemented a successful strategy by deploying half-a-dozen Union Ministers for the poll campaign, besides ensuring that the TDP’s support among the Seemandhra voters passed on to it smoothly.

Nonetheless, the TRS, by winning the Nalgonda-Warangal-Khammam graduates’ constituency, has once again proved that its vote-bank in areas where Telangana sentiment is strong is in tact.

Its candidate P Rajeshwar Reddy’s win was just a formality as he was way ahead of his nearest rival, BJP’s Errabelli Rammohan Rao.

As far as Andhra Pradesh is concerned, elections to two MLC seats left the TDP leaders disappointed. Party candidate A S Ramakrishna won the Krishna-Guntur constituency. However, its nominee K V V Satyanarayana Raju alias Chaitanya Raju lost to United Teachers’ Federation candidate Ramu Surya Rao in the twin Godavari constituency.

Ramachander Thanks naidu

BJP’s N Ramachander Rao called on TDP chief and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu to thank him for the cooperation extended by the yellow party to him in the polls. “I have won the polls due to the concerted efforts of the BJP and TDP leaders.

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