Hyderabad, July 31: The biggest jolt for the ruling Congress came in the form of the defeat of the state party chief Mr. D. Srinivas in the Nizamabad Urban constituency at the hands of the BJP nominee Mr. Laxminarayana. This is the second successive defeat for Mr. Srinivas at the hands of Mr. Laxminarayana who had humbled him earlier in 2009 elections.
Even the dream of Telugu Desam, which is desperately waiting in the wings to grab power from the Congress, has been shattered. The high-voltage drama of Mr. N. Chandrababu Naidu on the controversial Babli project issue and his confrontation with the neighbouring Maharashtra government could not help the party gain support and sympathy from the Telangana region.
On the other hand the TRS, which has been waging a relentless political battle for the creation of a separate Telangana, received a big boost. Not only it had retained all the 10 seats but also gained one more seat earlier held by the TDP. What is more, its nominees even secured a massive mandate from the electorate which is clearly evident from the big majority with which they had won their seats. Mr. Harish Rao, nephew of KCR, retained his Siddipet constituency with a record majority of over 95,000 votes and even surpassed the record of over 86,000 votes secured by late YSR in 2009 elections from Pulivendula constituency.
There is no denial of the fact that besides the strong sentiment for a separate state sweeping in the region, the triumph of TRS in the by-elections can also be attributed to the immense support the party received from the youth, students and women. The students of Osmania University and Kakatiya University have played a pivotal role in the TRS victory. Apart from taking part intensively in the electioneering, the students and youth have turned out in large numbers and exercised their franchise in favour of TRS.
However, a distressing aspect of the whole political drama on the issue Telangana state is the huge financial drain on the state exchequer. The frequent by by-elections is posing a big burden on the state administration which is forced to incur heavy expenditure. The by-elections were forced by the TRS, BJP and TDP members were elected just one year back in 2009. In fact it is the second time the TRS has forced a by-elections in the region on the Telangana issue. What is the guarantee that the party would not force another by-election if the Sri Krishna Committee report on the Telangana issue is not palatable to it, is the big question that is plaguing the minds of the people who are getting piqued over the frequent resignations and by-elections.
——-NSS