Even as the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) was continuing its celebration over the spectacular victory in Warangal lok Sabha by-elections with a record majority of more than 4,59,000 votes, wider ramifications of the crushing defeat of the Opposition parties were also becoming apparent.
TRS leaders were gungho following the unprecedented victory as they feel that the Warangal result has cemented the position of their
party as the numero uno in the State politics.
Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao described TRS victory in Warnagal as historic. After the victorious candidate P Dayakar met him, the Chief Minister said that the TRS Government will now give top billing to Warangal in its development programmes as the people of the district always stood by the Telangana movement and the party.
The fact that the BJP candidate, backed by the ally TDP came third behind the Congress has delivered a big blow to the alliance of the two parties as many the BJP leaders were bitter that the TDP had failed to transfer its votes to their candidates.
TDP leaders on the other hand were blaming the defeat on the weaknesses of the BJP. “TDP remains strong. It is the BJP which has turned
out to be weak,” said TDP’s floor leader in the Telagnana State Assembly while analysing the result.
The question mark on the future of the alliance has once again become evident following the debacle and the leaders who have been calling to strike separate paths in both the parties have become more vocal. Specially many leaders in the State BJP were of the view that the alliance with the TDP has become Albatross around their neck because of its image of anti-Telangna party.
TDP leaders in Telangana on the other hand say that their tie up with the BJP has driven the minority voters away from the party.
The leaders of both the parties were expected to
meet soon separately to analyse the result.
For Congress on the other hand result was another clear indication that following its debacle in 2014 the party has failed to regain the lost ground and return to the good books of the voters. Contrary to the claims of a strong anti incumbency against the KCR government, the Congress could not benefit and in all the seven assembly segments the vote share of TDP went up compared to the last year’s general elections.
While the Congress leader in the State Assembly K Jana Reddy said that the party leaders will have a threadbare discussion on the result, party’s MP from Nalgonda Gutta Sukhinder Reddy created a stir by suggesting that
the Congress and TDP should join hand to end the autocratic rule of KCR.
Worst was the situation of the left parties as their common candidate G Vinod Kumar polled mere 14788 votes. He was the candidate of CPI, CPIM, MCPI and many other smaller parties and the mass organisations. This marks the nadir in the history of the left which was a force to reckon with till a decade ago.