Finally, Congress bigwig, former pilot, ex-Telangana PCC chief and Lok Sabha MP Uttam Kumar Reddy can shave of his beard now. For the last five years, he has been keeping a beard vowing that he would shave it off only when the ruling BRS is humbled at the hustings. The moment has now arrived with the Congress sweeping the polls in Telangana. In fact, Telangana victory is the sole consolation for the Congress, which drowned itself in the sorrow of getting whacked by the BJP in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
As the angry and determined voters of Telangana booted out the BRS from the portals of power, the regional outfit was left in the dustbin of history to nurse its bruises. Several of the ministers, sitting MLAs, 12 of the Congress turncoats who clung to KCR’s coat-tails were defeated by huge margins. Adding insult to injury, KCR lost to a political leader whose last position of power was way back in 2006 in Kamareddy, one of the two seats he contested from. The only solace for KCR was his hard-fought victory from Gajwel, which he had won albeit by a greatly reduced margin. Thus ended KCR’s ambitious dream of winning three consecutive terms to a state in South India and equal the enviable record of thespian-politician MG Ramachandran.
KCR has since sent in his resignation through his OSD to Governor and the Congress is all set to elect its CM candidate by Sunday night, so that the Congress Government could be sworn in on Monday. As is his wont, KCR retreated to his infamous farmhouse.
Why was the rejection so complete?
The ‘farmhouse’ CM: The BRS sank without a trace because of the bizarre style of functioning of KCR. He perhaps is the only CM, who never visited his old secretariat citing superstitious beliefs. He rarely visited even the swanky new ‘vastu compliant’ secretariat that he had built at a huge cost. He functioned from his farmhouse, a good 30 km away from the state headquarters. He rarely met his team of ministers and refused entry to even key ministers into his ‘Pragathi Bhavan’ lair. Indolence, brusqueness and high-handed behaviour became KCR’s hall-marks. His MLAs and ministers followed suit. Complaints of land grab, gender harassment, rude behaviour piled up without any remedial action. The arbitrariness of BRS government rule has earned the sobriquet of ‘Dorala Palana’ (The reign of indolent feudal lords).
Neellu, Nidhulu and Niyamakalu (Irrigation, Funds, Job appointments: These were the defining catch-phrases of the movement for a separate Telangana state. The movement aimed at improving the irrigational facilities in parched Telangana, getting adequate funds for its alround development and provision of jobs for its youths. The BRS failed miserably on all these. What more? It tried cheap tricks like cancelling the public service exams on some flimsy pretext or the other. The poor quality of the irrigation projects, built by the KCR government, was there for all to see. KCR tried to woo certain sections by promising welfare doles like Dalit Bandhu (cash gifts of up to Rs 10 lakh to chosen Dalits), Rythu Bandhu (Cash for owners of farmlands) and other such schemes. They ended up more heartburn among the people as only BRS henchmen got benefited. The BRS process of its leaders taking their cut from various state and central schemes too angered the voters.
Wrong electoral strategies: KCR not only refused to see the writing on the wall and continued with the same set of MLAs for the third time. Thus, an MLA, who won in 2014, was renominated in 2023 too, thus giving them a reign of 15 years. This unbridled license emboldened the MLAs to indulge in corruption and high-handedness. His welfare promises failed to strike a chord in the hearts of the voters as the latter had already seen and experienced his existing failed and futile schemes. The campaign too had a single selling point – KCR’s charm and oratory. When that became too jaded and worn out, the BRS didn’t simply have a plan B.
What went right for the Congress?
The Congress campaign and strategy in Telangana faithfully followed the Karnataka template. It roped in Left, Christian and woke NGOs on the lines of Karnataka’s Eddelu Karnataka forum (Wake Up Karnataka) to create a buzz in favour of the party. It also deployed a host of websites, social media handles, YouTube channels to drum up support for the party. The party put up a united front as it did in Karnataka. The warring factions closed their ranks and campaigned to a purpose. Team Sunil Kanugolu, an election spin-doctor, helped build a momentum for the party. The dynamic leadership of young Revanth Reddy, his rabble-rousing oratory, his derring-do and innovative working style helped create a band of youthful workers. Its six guarantees too helped the party in a big way. Focused campaign helped the Congress to project itself as a viable alternative to the Congress Party.
Four voting patterns
As the results began pouring in, a clear pattern of voting emerged. The state voted in three blocks. The rural Telangana, which suffered deprivation and poverty, voted overwhelmingly for the Congress giving it as many as 65 seats. In the urban Hyderabad and its surroundings, the BRS won a lion’s share of its 40 seats with equally stunning margins. The third region – the Hindutva belt – comprising undivided Adilabad, Nizamabad and parts of western Medak, gave the BJP all but one of its eight seats. The core Muslim belt of Old City and its surroundings gave all the seven seats to the MIM.
More than the BRS, the communal Majlis appeared to be more shocked by the electoral outcome. The AIMIM had to countenance tough competition from the Congress, when latter’s candidates from Malakpet (Akbar Sheikh), Jubilee Hills (Indian cricket’s ex-captain Md Azharuddin) and Nampally (Feroz Khan) made a significant dent in the Minority vote bank of the AIMIM. Beyond Hyderabad, the AIMIM writ did not run as Muslim voters largely preferred to vote for the Congress Party. The BRS, which adopted a stridently pro-Muslim approach all these 9 years, was left high and dry.
Another equally shocking outcome is that both incumbent CM – KCR – and CM to-be – Revanth Reddy- were defeated by a lesser-known BJP candidate in Kamareddy. BJP’s Venkata Ramana Reddy defeated both KCR and Revanth in a keenly fought battle. Thus, despite a staggering victory, the Congress CM candidate had to bite dust in at least one of the two sets he had chosen to contest.
The Congress secured 39.55 per cent vote share, while the BRS got 37.40 per cent. The BJP, which emerged the third largest party, polled 13.82 per cent votes and won eight seats. The vote share of other parties is: All India Forward Block – 0.66 %, AIMIM – 1. 94 %, BSP 1.39%, CPI 0.36 %, CPM 0.23%, NOTA 0.73 and others 3.92 %.
BJP’s performance
Despite a spirited campaign by Prime Minister Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, party national president JP Nadda, Yogi Adityanath, K Annamalai, Himanta Biswa Sarma and host of other stalwarts, the BJP remained a single digit party winning eight seats. It won Sirpur, Adilabad, Mudhole and Nirmal in the undivided Adilabad district and Nizamabad urban, Armur and Kamareddy in the undivided Nizamabad district and Goshamahal in the Greater Hyderabad area. Hindutva icon Thakur Raja Singh Lodha won for the third consecutive time by over 21000 votes. He is the sole saffron winner from the GHMC area.
The BJP polled While this is the best performance of the BJP fighting alone, it polled 13.91 per cent of votes as against the 6.98 per cent it got in the 2018 assembly elections. The BJP came second in 18 assembly constituencies. However, many of the party stalwarts like former state chief Bandi Sanjay, sitting MP Aravind Dharmapuri and former minister Eatala Rajender lost their elections. Eatala contested from Gajwel and Huzurabad and lost both. The BJP could not succeed in building a narrative to ensure its victory and there were too many slips between the cup and lip, which surely need an objective introspection.
Road ahead
The going will not be easy for the Congress as it would find itself on a weak wicket fulfilling its poll guarantees given the dire economic straits that the BRS had left the state in. The bickering within, which witnessed a temporary hiatus before the polls, would rise its ugly head again sooner than later. The party could witness intense factionalism in the days to come.
The BRS, which was built on the single pillar of Telangana regionalism, faces an uncertain future as it could see desertions in its ranks in the days to come. Sheen off, KCR may find things getting increasingly tougher in the 2024 elections. These present an opportunity for the resurgent BJP and it depends on how it plans its future moves.
