Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) on Tuesday retained the Medak lok Sabha seat registering an emphatic victory in the by-election. TRS candidate Kotta Prabhakar Reddy won the seat by a margin of 3,61,277 defeating his nearest rival Sunita lakshma Reddy of the Congress. Much to the relief of the TRS, victory of margin was almost at the same level of May last when the party president and Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao had won the seat by a margin of 3.7 lakh votes.
The BJP-TDP alliance, which had declared its intention to deprive KCR of his sleep, came poor third as the BJP candidate T Jayaprakash Reddy polled only 1.76 lakhs votes against 2.10 lakh of Sunita lakshma Reddy.
Votes were counted at Gitam University at Patancheru amidst tight security. TRS polled majority of votes in all the seven Assembly segments. While its margin in Medak, Dubbak, Siddipet and Patancheru was big, it was comparatively less in Sangareddy and Narsapur.
In the other by-election in Andhra Pradesh, the TDP retained Nandigama Assembly seat. Its candidate T Soumya won the seat by a huge margin of 74,827 over his nearest B Babu Rao of the Congress. Soumya’s father T Prabhakar Rao had won the seat in May last but he died soon after causing the by election. Elated over the victory in Medak, Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao thanked the people for reposing faith in him and said that his Government was yet to start its real work. “The work with the KCR and TRS stamp is yet to begin”, he said promising to come out with many important decisions and announcements between coming festivals of Dussehra and Diwali.
“When our real work starts, no party will be able to stand in front of us”, he said. He thanked the people that they continued to have their faith in him despite Opposition’s venomous propaganda against him. He ridiculed the BJP’s claim that it was a moral victory for the party. “How it could be a moral victory when you were placed third,” he asked.
KCR said that his party will fulfil all its promises and achieve the goal of Golden Telangana. With the announcement of TRS victory, thousands of party workers all over Medak district came out on the streets to celebrate by bursting crackers and shouting slogans in support of KCR and party.
Workers from all over the district had gathered outside the counting centre. As the result became clear, victorious K Prabhakar Reddy was taken in a big procession to the counting centre for accepting the certificate. TDP leadership on the other hand was happy over the result of Nandigama Assembly seat.
“This is people’s gift on the occasion of completion of 100 days of TDP rule in Andhra Pradesh”, said Irrigation Minister D Umamaheshwar Rao.