Continuing its winning spree and further consolidating its hold over the State, the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti on Thursday wrested Palairu Assembly seat in Khammam district from rival Congress with an overwhelming majority of 45676 votes.
In the by-election held on May 16 former Minister Tummala Nageshwara Rao of TRS defeated his nearest rival Sucharita Reddy of Congress by securing 94978 votes. Sucharita Reddy who had the support of TDP and YSRCP polled 49302 votes and The constituency had registered record 89.73% polling on Monday.
The by election was caused by the death of Congress MlA R Venkat Reddy and the party had fielded his widow. But neither the sympathy factor nor the support of the Telugu Desam party could help it in retaining the seat. The TRS on the other hand got a big boost before the by election when the Congress MlA from Khammam city Puvvada Ajay Kumar switching over to its ranks.
The victory in Palairu marks the widening base of the TRS as Khammam was among the pockets where the party lacked a strong base. Tummala Nageshwara Rao, who was earlier the strongman of Telugu Desam in the district had joined the TRS strengthening its base. With his victory in the by election and Congress MlA from Khammam city defecting it the TRS has found its feet in hitherto weak area.
Khammam district was once the stronghold of the left but the CPIM candidate P Sudarshan was relegated to third position in the by elections and he polled only 15544 votes. Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao hailed Tummala Nageshwara Rao’s victory as “historic and record breaking”.
“No candidate in the past secured margin of more than 25000 votes”, he said adding that the party’s victory reflect people’s faith in his two year old governments policies.
He recalled that in 2014 TRS candidate had polled only 4100 votes in the same Palairu constituency. “Now party polled 94000 votes”, he said.
For the TRS this is latest addition to its array of electoral victories in the Municipal Corporation elections in three big cities of Hyderabad, Warangal and Khammam apart from winning Warangal lok Sabha and Narayanpet assembly by elections in the recent months.