Hyderabad: Voter fatigue and anti-incumbency in certain regions and sections of people led to Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) losing power in Telangana, giving Congress party its maiden win in India’s youngest state.
The perception in some sections that top BRS leaders are arrogant and a family is ruling the state for nearly a decade and the anger among unemployed youth over frequent postponement of recruitment exams due to paper leak, are the other key factors which led to the defeat of KCR-led party despite its claims of developing Telangana into a prosperous state.
Nearly a decade after it carved out Telangana state, the Congress party stormed to power winning 64 seats in the 119-member Assembly. Its ally CPI won the lone seat it contested.
The Congress, which had won only 19 seats in 2018, had only five members in the dissolved Assembly as it lost a dozen MLAs to BRS, one to BJP and one seat in the by-election.
The grand old party, which had lost all the by-elections held since 2019 and had dismal performance in Greater Hyderabad municipal polls, appeared down and out till six months ago. It, however, bounced back after the victory in neighbouring Karnataka.
Banking on the six guarantees announced on the lines of promises made in Karnataka and aggressively taking on KCR over the family rule and alleged corruption, the Congress came out with a dramatic improvement in its performance to capture power.
Led by an aggressive Revanth Reddy and supported by the central leadership, the Congress party shattered the dreams of KCR to score a hat-trick.
BRS, which was facing anti-incumbency after two terms in power, suffered the defeat to end with 39 seats. The party had 104 seats in the dissolved Assembly and it was hoping to retain power even if it loses 40 seats. Till the last minute, its leaders had refused to accept the exit polls, which had given an edge to the Congress. The final result shows it failed to retain a whopping 65 seats.
KCR’s gamble of retaining all sitting MLAs and declaring the candidates about two months before the polls appeared to have cost the BRS dearly as many MLAs were facing anti-incumbency at the constituency level.
Revanth Reddy, who is likely to be named the next chief minister by the leadership after a meeting of newly-elected MLAs on Monday, dedicated the victory to Telangana martyrs and vowed to work to fulfil their aspirations.
Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D. K. Shivakumar, other AICC observers, Revanth Reddy, AICC in-charge Manikaro Thakare and others met the governor on Sunday night to stake claim for forming the government.
The TPCC chief declared that Congress will work for reviving democracy in the state and announced that the doors of the state Secretariat will be thrown open for the public. He also announced that Pragati Bhavan, the official residence of the chief minister, will be renamed as Babasahed Ambedkar Praja Bhavan.
Revanth Reddy was elected from his home constituency Kodangal by a huge margin of over 32,000 votes.
When it became clear that Congress had secured the majority, Chief Minister KCR sent his resignation to Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan. KCR was expected to reach Raj Bhavan to submit his resignation but left Pragati Bhavan in his private car. He did not reach Raj Bhavan and it was later learnt that he sent his resignation.
The chief minister is reported to have left for his farm house at Erravalli village in Medak district.
The governor accepted KCR’s resignation and asked him to continue in office till the new government assumes office.
KCR and Revanth Reddy both suffered surprising defeat at the hands of BJP candidate in Kamareddy constituency. Venkat Ramna Reddy of the BJP defeated KCR by a margin of 5,156 votes. Revanth Reddy, who had entered the fray to challenge KCR, finished third.
At least six ministers also lost the election. KCR’s son K. T. Rama Rao and nephew T. Harish Rao were among the ministers who could retain their seats.
Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka retained his Madhira (SC) seat. Former TPCC president Uttam Kumar Reddy was elected from Huzurabad.
The Congress party had an almost clean sweep in south Telangana and won majority seats in north Telangana. However, the BRS continued its domination in and around Hyderabad, retaining almost all seats.
BJP, which was seen as an alternative to the BRS till a few months ago, also improved its tally. The saffron party, which had won only one seat in 2018 but added two seats in the by-elections, emerged victorious in eight constituencies.
However, the saffron party suffered a huge setback with all its three MPs including party general secretary Bandi Sanjay losing the election. Sitting MLAs Eatala Rajender and M. Raghunandan Rao also failed to retain their seats which they had won in the by-elections.
All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), a friendly party of BRS, retained all its seven seats in Hyderabad. Though its candidates were trailing in 2-3 constituencies in early rounds, the party finally held on to its seats.
The Asaduddin Owaisi-led party had fielded candidates in nine constituencies. It had contested Jubilee Hills, where the Congress fielded former Indian cricket captain Mohammed Azharuddin. The counting of votes was delayed in the constituency due to objections by Azharuddin. BRS candidate Maganti Gopinath was leading when the counting was stopped.
The seven candidates of MIM were the only Muslims to get elected. Congress senior leader and former minister Mohammed Ali Shabbir and lone Muslim MLA of BRS Mohammed Shail Aamir suffered defeat in Nizamabad Urban and Bodhan constituencies respectively.