He Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) is over the moon if the three straight wins in as many months, be it the Warangal Lok Sabha by-election, the prestigious Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation or the latest triumph in the Narayankhed Assembly bypoll, is any indication.
The big question that’s doing the rounds in the political circles is whether the party could repeat the same performance in elections to Warangal and Khammam municipal corporations slated next month. The performance of the TRS in these three elections falls in a pattern going by the margin of victory secured by the ruling party candidates. The 4.59-lakh margin secured by Pasnuru Dayakar in Warangal LS by-election and the thumping majority in GHMC left the entire Opposition searching for answers. It continued its winning streak with over 54,000 majority in Narayankhed, which is again an incredible performance as the highest victory margin was 21,000 votes secured by P. Kishta Reddy, the late legislator from Narayankhed. The stunning gains made by winning as many as 99 divisions in the GHMC limits silenced the TRS critics, who were sceptical about its showing. The victory in Narayankhed came as an icing on the cake. Now, the focus of the ruling party is on Warangal and Khammam municipal corporations. The TRS leadership is adopting the same strategy of launching mass propaganda highlighting its welfare and development programmes. By assigning as many Ministers to tour the two corporations, it intends to prove a point to the voters that the government is accessible. With heavyweight leaders like Deputy Chief Minister Kadiam Srihari, TRS MLA Konda Surekha and her husband Konda Muralidhar, besides new entrant Errabelli Dayakar Rao, the ruling party is confident of performing well. The same is the case with Khammam where the Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s two-day visit is bound to boost the party’s chances.
In all the three elections, the opposition parties – Congress, TDP and the BJP – voter base has dwindled alarmingly. These opposition parties failed to impress the voters and face the propaganda onslaught of the ruling party. A senior Congress leader, wishing anonymity, wondered what chances would the opposition parties have if close to dozen Ministers campaign door to door in a small State with 10 districts. “In Narayankhed, the Irrigation Minister T. Harish Rao almost camped there touring every village and showing visible development activity. This certainly changed the opinion of traditional Congress voters,” said the leader, who was reluctant to give his reaction on record. Opposition parties fear that the TRS leadership will try to woo the opposition leaders ahead of the two municipal corporation elections. “In Warangal corporation limits, as many as eight former Congress corporators switched loyalties to the TRS in the presence of Information Technology Minister K.T. Rama Rao. The TRS leadership is thoroughly assessing the strength of the opposition candidates and luring those popular among the electorate with a promise of ticket,” the Congress leader alleged.
The fissure in the TDP-BJP alliance is a bound to bother the two parties with the Warangal unit of BJP urging the leadership to snap ties with TDP.