Despite delivering Telangana, Cong fails to gain

The results of 2014 general election have left the Congress, which projected itself as the creator of Telangana, in shambles. The party that fared well in civil and panchayat polls just a few months ago was grounded in both the new and the residual states.

Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and the BJP-TDP combine have gained from the defeat of the Congress in the region. Of the 17 in Telangana, the TRS has won 11 seats as the Congress settled for 2. The TDP, BJP and AIMIM each settled for a single seat while the remaining seat went for the “others” category. TRS chief K Chandrasekhara Rao won the Medak Lok Sabha seat with a margin of over 4 lakh votes, while his daughter K Kavitha was elected from Nizamabad. TRS leader Kadiam Srihari won from Warangal. Party candidates also won from Adilabad, Zahirabad and Karimnagar.

The Congress, which was hoping that the TRS will be failing to attract votes in Southern Telangana districts of Nalgonda, Mahbubnagar and Rangareddy districts, is taken aback as the former has found support from the districts that were once strongholds of the grand old party and the TDP. The TRS wave was so strong that senior Congress leader and former Union minister Jaipal Reddy lost his seat in Mahbubnagar to TRS. In Peddapalli, Telangana student leader Balka Suman of TRS has defeated sitting MP G Vivek, reflecting the mood of the voters.

Except Gutha Sukhender Reddy, who won Nalgonda LS seat, and Nandi Yellaiah in Nagarkurnool seat, all other Congress leaders, including G Vivek, Ponnam Prabhakar, Madhu Yashki Goud, Suresh Shetkar, Sarve Satyanarayana, Anjan Kumar Yadav, Komati Reddy, Rajgopal Reddy and P Balram Nayak have lost their seats.

For the TDP, victory might knock the door in the shape of Malla Reddy in Malkajgiri who was ahead of Mynampalli Hanmath Rao of TRS, Dinesh Reddy (former DGP), Jayaprakash Narain of Loksatta and former IAS officer Chayaratan of the AAP. For YSRC Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy in Khammam is ahead of Nama Nageswar Rao of TDP and CPI state secretary Narayana. Whereas AIMIM Asaduddin Owaisi has retained Hyderabad seat by a margin of more than 2 lakh votes.

Analyzing the trend, TPCC chief Ponnala Laxmaiah has said the party has failed to drive home the message that it was the Congress that delivered the Telangana. Many Congress leaders of the region also feel that their party neglected campaigning in the belief that the TRS will merge with the Congress, but it was too late to revive the fortunes. However, TRS leader Etela Rajender wanted to know “why the mighty Congress took six decades to carve out Telangana”.