Hyderabad: Leaders of different Opposition parties have declared that they will accept and respect the verdict of the people in the Telangana Assembly elections, results of which were declared on Tuesday. But, ironically, a few leaders of the defeated parties, particularly, the Congress, has refused to see the reasons for TRS victory, and came out with the theory that the EVMs were tampered with and manipulated, and the Election Commission has colluded with the TRS Government in the State.
The TRS has won a massive victory, while the Opposition parties miserably failed to win even a respectable number of seats. The TRS vote share has increased to 46.9 per cent in the present election as against 34.3 per cent in the 2014 elections, thus indicating that the people are appreciative of the large number of welfare and development programs launched by the TRS Government, which benefited almost all sections of the society. Even where the TRS candidates lost the election, the margins were very small, while the Opposition parties’ candidates, who won the race, have made it with small margins.
The TDP supremo and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, speaking after the poll verdict was out, said the party would respect the peoples’ judgment in favour of the ruling TRS, and he has complimented the TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao. The TDP has secured only two seats in the election.
The TJS chief Prof Kodandaram, whose party has failed to get even a single seat, has also said the peoples’ verdict should be respected. The BJP State president Dr K Laxman, and former Union Minister Bandaru Dattatraya (BJP), whose party suffered a setback by winning only one seat, as against five it held in the dissolved Assembly, also said that they would respect the peoples’ judgment. BJP spokesman Krishna Sagar opined that the people felt that if they voted to Congress, the party would bring-in TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu to ride over them again, and this fear made them to vote en masse to TRS.
CPI State secretary Chada Venkat Reddy has said the campaign launched by KCR has become a key factor in the election. Even the defeated Congress leaders like K Jana Reddy and A Revanth Reddy have also accepted the poll outcome. As against all this, the TPCC president N Uttam Kumar Reddy has alleged that the Election Commission has colluded with the caretaker Government in the State and also there was a feeling that EVM tampering was resorted to in favour of the TRS. One defeated Congress candidate Dasoju Shravan also repeated this version.
Political analysts feel that the TPCC president was blind to the hard realities and reasons that ensured massive victory for the TRS in the State. How can Uttam ignore the facts that (1) nearly one crore farmers in the State were benefited with Rythu Bandhu, Rythu Bheema and loan waiver schemes and they were very happy, and the Rythu Bandhu and Rythu Bheema got international recognition as innovative schemes; (2) that the Government has given the farmers tractors and other farm machinery on subsidy and this helped many; (3) lakhs of women were happy with the Kalyana Lakshmi and Shaadi Mubarak schemes; (4) nearly 40 lakh families were getting pensions; (5) the KCR kits program has benefited lakhs of women, who were now opting Government Hospitals for deliveries; (6) the SC, ST, Minorities Gurukul schools were benefiting lakhs of school-going children, and the KG-to-PG Education schemes was being implemented in a phased manner; (7) that Property Tax in Municipal bodies was reduced from Rs 1,200 to Rs 101 and this has benefited lakhs of low-income families; (8) Auto rickshaw license fee was done away with and autos were given to the poor on subsidy basis; (9) over 32,000 posts were filled-in, and notifications were issued for filling-up of another 87,000 posts; (10) salaries of many categories of employees like Home Guards, Anganwadi workers and helpers were increased by the Government, benefiting lakhs of families; and the services of large number of employees were regularized; (11) conditions in Government Hospitals at different levels were improved considerably and even superspecialty services were introduced in District hospitals; (12) lakhs of workers were happy with the Rs five a meal scheme; (13) Mission Kakatiya and Mission Bhagiratha were helping a huge number of farmers by bringing new areas under irrigation and by providing drinking water; (14) the Kanti Velugu program has been acclaimed by lakhs of beneficiaries. Apart from these, there are other schemes and programs which benefited the people in general and the poorer sections in particular.
Analysts also feel that the vigorous campaign launched by KCR in thoroughly exposing the Opposition parties’ failures during the last 58 years of their regime, and the fears that cropped up in the minds of the people about the unholy alliance between the arch rivals, Congress and the TDP, and that vote for Congress means inviting Chandrababu Naidu to ride over them also prompted the people to vote for the TRS. Without taking all these factors into account, the TPCC chief blaming the EC and EVMs was a futile exercise, they opine.
[source_without_link]NSS[/source_without_link]