In the Pink: Telangana could be painted totally in the TRS colour in the upcoming LS polls
Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) supremo and Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao ploughed the field by advancing the Assembly polls, separating it from the Lok Sabha elections, and made it battle-ready.
KCR metaphorically indeed adds salt and pepper to spice up election campaigns with his well-known peppy speeches — however, this is the first-ever election in this part of the country that is going to witness the most insipid and bland political scenario. The Congress will have a sense of déjà vu once the poll results are out in Telangana — it is already on the precipice of defeat.
The hand is set to lose its face!
The Congress has no biggies campaigning for it — except Rahul Gandhi. Rahul Gandhi has already campaigned here twice, but he adds no star value to the party’s image — there is a total disconnect between the people and the party in Telangana.
As many as nine out of the 17 candidates fielded by the Congress have lost in the recently-concluded Assembly elections. The stigma of losing in a smaller area (an Assembly constituency is a seventh of a Lok Sabha constituency) is turning out to be a bugbear for Congress candidates.
Even though most of these candidates are not seeking re-election from Lok Sabha constituencies — consisting of the Assembly segments that rejected them — the denouement is more or less crystal clear. The primary reason for this is that even the recently-elected MLAs do not want to sail with the party that fielded them in the fray. For instance, first lady Home Minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh — P Sabitha Indra Reddy, who was a big name for Congress — has crossed over to the TRS.
Of the 18 MLAs elected on the Congress ticket, 11 met KCR and pledged their support to him — thereby reducing the Congress to a position where it loses its status of being officially the main opposition.
The MLAs crossed over but did not officially join the TRS. This is because the Chief Minister has a grander scheme for them. By admitting four of the Congress MLCs in a last instalment of cross-overs, KCR had ensured that they submitted a letter to the Chairman of the Telangana State Legislative Council that Congress, in the Upper House, has merged with the TRS officially, in accordance with the rules laid down in the Anti-Defection Law. Further, KCR seems all set to organise a coup within the Assembly by attracting more MLAs, so that the numbers could mean a merger of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) into the TRS Legislature Party.
The Congress fielded some big names like former Union Ministers Renuka Chowdary, P Balaram Naik, Ponnam Prabhakar, Madhu Yashki Goud, Konda Vishweshwar Reddy (who resigned from the TRS before the Assembly elections) and A Revanth Reddy.
The national party is banking on their seniority and poll-readiness. Renuka Chowdary is giving a tough time to TRS candidate Nama Nageswar Rao, the former TDP MP who crossed over to the TRS. However, Rao is harping on the support of former minister Tummala Nageswar Rao and P Srinivas Reddy — the sitting MP who was denied a TRS ticket.
TDP cycles out of Telangana!
For the first time, the bicycle symbol will not be there on the ballot paper in Telangana.
The TDP — which turned 37 on March 29 — has virtually wound up its operations in Telangana by deciding not to field any candidate. The party that used to brag that it has grown to the stature of a national party after the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh — despite reportedly not fulfilling any of the stipulations laid down in the Representation of People Act to claim the status — was humbled in the recently held Telangana Assembly elections.
Perhaps it was after this bitter defeat that the party chose not to contest the Lok Sabha elections from the state.
One of the two MLAs, who was elected on the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) ticket, has also migrated to the TRS — some of the latest emigrants could be accommodated in the KCR cabinet in the next expansion.
Even after the embarrassment of losing the Assembly polls after allying itself with the TDP, the local Congress leadership contacted the Telangana unit of the Telugu Desam Party and solicited its support. The TTDP has offered to throw its weight in-principle behind the Congress candidates. What puts the TDP in a tight spot of embarrassment is that it is not joining hands “officially” with the Congress — even though it may have a behind-the-scenes pact with the grand old party in the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh.
YSRCP’s vote of “conscience” — goes to TRS
The YSR Congress refused to contest the polls in Telangana, not only because it has a tacit understanding with the TRS, but also because Jaganmohan Reddy announced that his party did not have a sufficient support base in Telangana and advised his supporters to vote according to their conscience — implying TRS.
Thus, the TRS has levelled the playfield by removing all hurdles to play both sides by reducing the opposition to offer a nominal fight. However, the larger-than-life positioning of the TRS has trivialised any contest even though it is not a good trend to surface and prevail in a democracy.
The lotus tries to stay afloat...
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) fielded some interesting candidates like MLA G Kishen Reddy, D Arvind (son of TRS MP D Srinivas), and Sruthi (the daughter of the late Bangaru Laxman, who was the former BJP national president from Nagarkurnool Lok Sabha seat). PM Narendra Modi has campaigned twice and launched a trenchant attack on TRS-MIM nexus. However, Modi's campaign has hardly cut any ice.
The BJP which holds Secunderabad Lok Sabha seat has changed its candidate and fielded G Kishen Reddy, the party’s former MLA who lost narrowly in the recent Assembly elections.
While the BJP candidate is likely to offer a stiff fight, the TRS isn’t taking it easy either. Other contestants are insignificant.
In spite of his formidable positioning, KCR has not taken chances with choosing candidates for the Lok Sabha seats. He has replaced 10 candidates with fresh faces. After Konda Vishweshawar Reddy resigned, poultry industrialist Dr Ranjit Reddy was fielded from Chevella Lok Sabha seat.
C Malla Reddy was elected on the TDP ticket from Malkajgiri Lok Sabha constituency in 2014. However, he migrated to the TRS later and was fielded from Medchal Assembly constituency and inducted into the most recent cabinet of KCR. Malla Reddy’s son-in-law Marri Rajasekhar Reddy is being fielded by TRS in the Malkajgiri constituency to take on the firebrand Revanth Reddy.
KCR, interestingly, dumped sitting MP AP Jithender Reddy and gave the Mahbubnagar seat to a fresh face — industrialist Manne Srinivas Reddy will be making his political debut by contesting as the TRS candidate in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. Similarly, the seeming loyalty bonuses of some industrialists and politicians were redeemed as MP tickets in the TRS.
Though the TRS fielded a candidate in Hyderabad Lok Sabha constituency for the record, it is openly supporting the sitting MP and AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi from the seat — this fosters the already strong bond between the TRS and the AIMIM, fetching Muslim minority votes to the TRS in other places.
KCR’s daughter K Kavitha, a very popular leader in the state, is seeking re-election from Nizamabad constituency. Barring Secunderabad, there seems to be no interesting battle from the TRS end anywhere in the state.
KCR is gearing up to demand his pound of flesh at the Centre — considering his confidence of a burgeoning number of Lok Sabha seats in the state that goes to the polls on April 11.