Joy and disappointment in equal measure for Congress in Telangana

Congress in Telangana sees mixed results in counting day, gaining 8 seats but losing key constituencies to BJP.

The counting day brought joy and disappointment in equal measure for Congress in Telangana as the ruling party improved its tally to eight seats from three seats in the 2019 elections and the despondency came in the form of rival BJP also bagging an equal number of eight seats.

The wins with huge margins in a majority of the constituencies warmed the party’s heart but losing some key seats including Mahabubnagar, the home district of Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, left a bitter taste. BJP won the seat with the smallest margin in entire Telangana, of 4,500 votes. Though the results were on the expected lines, it was clear that the party lost a few seats due to the wrong selection of candidates coupled with huge delay when the opponents were way ahead in the campaigning. The party could not retain the Malakajgiri seat, held by Mr. Revanth Reddy till he became the Chief Minister. The constituency was in the control of the BRS that swept the Assembly poll winning all the seven seats.

Bringing in Sunita Mahender Reddy from Chevella to Malkajgiri sent a negative indication and it was cashed in by the BJP’s Eatala Rajender as she was no match for him. Moreover, the BRS MLAs did not look serious enough in campaigning for their candidates, forcing the BRS voters to choose the BJP.

Losing Chevella and Secunderabad seats to the BJP also hurt the party but leaders claim the party has been structurally weak in the urban areas for the last 10 years and its impact was seen. They acknowledged the Modi factor in urban areas that diminished all the hopes. But Congress can rejoice for winning eight seats, though it was short by two of its target of 10 seats given the ground reality in favour of the BJP. That the BRS caved in made its task of containing the BJP further difficult.

But the huge margins that the Congress gained in the rural areas should give some solace to it. In Nalgonda, Khammam, Bhongir, Warangal, Mahabubabad, Peddapalli and Nagarkurnool constituencies, the party won with huge majorities over the BJP. In Nalgonda where Irrigation Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy was the campaign in-charge, the party secured a margin of 5.59 lakh votes, highest in the State and second highest in the country after Home Minister Amit Shah’s margin of over 7 lakh votes.