True to the passionate slogan ‘Marpu kavali, Congress ravali’ (Change should come, Congress is needed), people of Telangana took almost nine-and-a-half years to fulfil the Congress dream and bring the party to power in the keenly fought Assembly elections.
Congress party which hoped to dethrone the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) with comfortable numbers had to settle for 64 seats in the House of 119. It was expecting above 75 seats and ended disappointed that it did not cross the figure it had hoped riding on the huge anti-incumbency factor.
The BRS was able to retain 39 seats losing half of its tally of 2018 when it won 88 seats. The BJP which was believed to have conceded considerable ground to the BRS and the Congress did well winning eight seats where it was not hoping to do well. Ironically, its stalwarts like Bandi Sanjay, Eatala Rajender and Dharmapuri Arvind bit the dust. The MIM too is hopeful of retaining its seven seats but after some tough fight from the rivals.
If the results are any indication, the ruling BRS has to squarely blame itself for banking heavily on its own MLAs, who were facing severe anti-incumbency in their own constituencies. The decision of BRS president and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao to retain several MLAs, whose track record was sullied also did the party in.
Even though the party announced its candidates in August much before the election notification was announced, the severe disenchantment against the sitting legislators was visible. During the no-hold barred electioneering, the sitting legislators faced the wrath of the voters in the rural parts.
KCR’s single handed campaign addressing 96 election rallies could not reap the desired results despite tangible developmental and welfare schemes implemented in Telangana. Massive shift of minority votes towards the Congress coupled with anger of the youth and influential caste like Reddy’s and Dalits towards the party was clearly visible in the outcome. The family rule accusation stuck to the BRS leadership. Implementation of Dalit Bandhu scheme for select few led to heartburn among others and also caused dent in the fortunes of the ruling party.
Rural Telangana stood strongly behind the Congress while urban voters particularly in Hyderabad and Rangareddy neutralised Congress numbers. Twin Cities and Rangareddy voters gave a big thumbs up to the BRS government’s visible developments.
The credit for reviving the Congress fortunes goes to TPCC chief A. Revanth Reddy. Undeterred by the ‘Cash for Vote’ controversy time and again raked against him, Mr. Revanth led the party campaign from the front and inspired the cadres. Ably guided by the Central leadership of Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi, the TPCC chief was able to infuse a sense of confidence to the beleaguered party rank and file.
The biggest beneficiary of the anti-incumbency factor was the Congress after the BJP gradually weakened due to various reasons. The anti-establishment mood among the electorate clearly translated into winning numbers for the Congress candidates. The icing on the cake was the six guarantees announced by the Congress. It has done wonders for the party because the rural voters appears to have lapped up the promises.
The BJP can find some solace in the fact that some of its little-known candidates came to the rescue of the party from complete humiliation. Its candidates Dhanpal Suryanarayana (Nizamabad Urban), Payal Shanker (Adilabad), Aleti Maheshwar Reddy (Nirmal), won their seats.
The new House will surely see a strong opposition with BRS likely to closely track the Congress regime.
