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TRS loses in byelections : Setback for Telangana movement

	June 02, 2008

In a major setback for the movement to carve out Telangana state from Andhra Pradesh, the Telangana Rashtriya Samithi (TRS) has suffered shock defeats in the byelections to four Lok Sabha and 18 Assembly seats. The election was being widely seen as a referendum on the Telangana issue, as the TRS members had re¬signed enmasse from four Lok Sabha and 16 Assembly seats, accus¬ing the UPA Government at the Centre of failing to carve out Telangana from Andhra Pradesh.



Of the four Lok Sabha seats, for which byelections were held, the TRS could retain only two, while one seat each was bagged by the Congress and the opposition Telugu Desam Party.



Of the 18 Assembly seats figuring in the byelections, the TRS could win only seven, while the Congress secured six and the TDP five.



The TRS which was banking heavily on the Telangana sentiment factor, failed to capitalise on the issue as party candidates suffered humiliating defeats in several constituencies.



A major blow to the TRS came in the form of drastic fall in majority for its chief K Chandrasekhar Rao who retained his Karimnagar Lok Sabha seat with a slender margin of 15,289 votes.

Rao had won the seat with a huge margin of over two lakh votes in the 2006 election. The elections were also seen as an acid test for Rao, who quit as MP for the second time in March over the Telangana issue.



Following the poor performance of his party in Telangana, Rao offered to quit the post of party president owning moral responsibility, party sources said. However, he was being per¬suaded not to take such a step.



The impact of the reverses was such that the TRS floor leader in the Assembly K Vijayarama Rao lost to TDP’s K Srihari at Ghanpur in Warangal, considered the nerve centre of the Telan¬gana movement.



Another TRS nominee A Chandrasekhar lost his deposit in Vikarabad where the Congress candidate emerged victorious. Among the Lok Sabha seats, the TRS retained Hanamkonda and Karimnagar, while Congress wrested Adilabad and the TDP pulled off a surprise victory in Warangal, hotbed of the Telangana movement.



With the demoralising defeat of the TRS even in its tradi¬tional strongholds, the Telangana statehood movement faces the risk of losing steam ahead of next year’s general elections.



Rao has already come under attack from his political rivals with TDP leader K Yerran Naidu demanding an explanation from the TRS chief for forcing byelections on the people. State Congress Chief D Srinivas attacked Rao for thrusting frequent elections on people for his political convenience.



The BJP, which was quiet confident of winning Musheerabad assembly seat in Hyderabad, drew a blank as the wife of former Chief Minister T Anjaiah, T Maneamma defeated K Lakshman of the BJP by a margin of 2,000 votes. Sitting TRS member N Narsimha Reddy came third.



The other big news from the bypolls was the comeback of N Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP since it lost power to the Congress four years ago. Senior TDP leader M V Mysoora Reddy said, “The people have given a mixed verdict, but the results are satisfactory for us. It is obvious that the TRS has failed the people of Telanga¬na.”



K Yerran Naidu, TDP’s leader in Parliament, said that the results indicate that the TDP will storm back to power next year. “The people have supported us because of our past record of good governance,” he said.



The Congress on the other hand was in high spirits. The party’s chief whip in the State Assembly Kiran Kumar Reddy said that the bypoll results were clear indication that the Congress will return to power in the state for another term.



“We will win with a greater majority than last time. I don’t have any doubt about it,” Reddy said.



“This is clear that TRS could win 26 seats in 2004 because of our support,” said state Congress president D Srinivas.



The TRS on the other hand was in a glum mood as party lead¬ers were trying to come to terms with the new reality that the party was no more favourite of the Telangana people.



“We can talk about the causes of the defeat of the party in some constituencies only after detailed analysis of the results,” said Harish Rao, nephew of K Chandrasekhara Rao.



“But the forces inimical to Telangana will be mistaken if they think that the sentiment for Telangana state had weakened,” he added.