HYDERABAD: The election results have given a major shock to Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy with the Congress candidates losing in both Mahbubnagar and Malkajgiri Lok Sabha constituencies to their BJP rivals. Revanth had represented Malkajgiri in the outgoing Lok Sabha while Mahbubnagar is his native constituency.
Revanth had spared no efforts while campaigning in Mahbubnagar, where the party had fielded former MLA and AICC secretary Ch Vamshi Chand Reddy. He addressed six public meetings and conducted roadshows, but the campaign failed to secure a victory for the Congress candidate. Revanth had even accused BJP candidate DK Aruna and her party of attempting to destabilise his government, and had urged voters to support Vamshi Chand Reddy.
Revanth had even promised that the Makthal MLA will be accommodated into his Cabinet, which too failed to sway the voters in the favour of the Congress and BJP candidate DK Aruna won the seat by a margin of over 4,000 votes. This was the second time the saffron party captured Mahbubnagar seat; the first time was in 1999 when AP Jithender Reddy was declared the winner.
Interestingly Revanth met Jithender Reddy at the latter’s residence before the Lok Sabha elections and welcomed him into the Congress fold. Jithender Reddy accepted Revanth’s invitation and was appointed the special representative for the Telangana government in Delhi.
Revanth’s efforts too failed to pay off in Malkajgiri where BJP candidate and former minister Eatala Rajender won by a margin of over 2 lakh votes. In hindsight, the Congress choice of P Sunitha Mahender Reddy as its candidate is being blamed for the disastrous performance of the party since she is a non-local. What was most shocking about the result in Malkajgiri was the poor performance of the BRS.
These defeats are particularly striking as Congress candidates won in Nalgonda and Bhongir, both held by N Uttam Kumar Reddy and Komatireddy Venkat Reddy in 2019. Both had resigned from the Lok Sabha to join the Revanth Reddy Cabinet.