TDP sweeps Seemandhra; Cong shines in Telangana

• Both parties confident May 16 results will mimic urban polls
• YSRCP, TRS differ, say it’s a different ball-game altogether
• MPTC and ZPTC results today to feel rural voters’ pulse

Hyderabad: The results of the municipal elections which were held on April 30 in Seemandhra and Telangana have thrown surprises.

Congress showed a stellar performance in Telangana, while TDP swept Seemandhra. Both the parties are now upbeat and emphatically claim that they will repeat similar show on May 16 too when the results of General Elections and State polls will be known.

Of the 10 municipal corporations, seven are in Seemandhra and three in Telangana. The TDP won five and the YSRC bagged the two in Seemandhra. The five corporations won by TDP are Rajahmundry, Eluru, Vijayawada, Anantapur and Chittoor. YSRCP bagged Nellore and Kadapa municipal corporations.

In Telangana, TRS has won Karimnagar while Ramagundam and Nizamabad witnessed a hung verdict. A total of 145 municipalities – 53 in Telangana and 92 in Seemandhra – went to polls. In Telangana, Congress bagged 23 municipalities, whereas TRS won 11, TDP-BJP combine 5, MIM 2 and BSP 1.

Of the 92 municipalities in Seemandhra, 65 went to TDP and YSRCP could get only 20 seats. Seven municipalities witnessed a hung verdict. In Telangana, Congress bagged 23 of the 53 municipalities there. TRS won 11, TDP-BJP combine 5, MIM 2 and BSP 1. However, electors gave hung verdict in 11 municipalities.

Congress, which had ruled Andhra Pradesh for 41 of its 57 years of existence, faced a near wash-out in Seemandhra, largely because it was seen as the villain of the piece for its role in the impending creation of Telangana.

Analysts see the municipal polls as the pulse of the urban voters in general elections as well. The verdict of the rural electorate will be out on Tuesday when the enumeration of votes, polled in the elections held for Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituencies (MPTCs) and Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituencies (ZPTCs), will be taken up.

Psephologists predict that Naidu’s TDP will emerge as the biggest player in Seemandhra.

The interesting part of this election is that Telugu Desam has done extremely well in East and West Godavari districts as well as Kadapa, Anantapur districts which are claimed to be the bastions of YSRCP.

The TDP even won in Proddutur, Mydukur, Badvel and Jammalamadugu municipalities, causing worry for the YSRCP leadership. As far as the municipal wards are concerned, the TDP has won 1,451 wards while the YSRCP bagged 850.

As the results poured in the mood in TDP was upbeat. TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu who is on a holiday in US tweeted: “TDP's victory has mirrored peoples' confidence towards development & effective governance.” The YSRCP leaders who were in the process of analyzing the results said that the civic body elections were held prior to the TDP-BJP alliance, which angered the Muslim minorities and hence the balance would now be tilted in favour of Jaganmohan Reddy. In fact the rural votes which are key to winning Assembly and Lok Sabha would go in favour of YSRCP.

“The results of civic body elections will not repeat in the Assembly and LS elections,” they add.

But the TDP leaders say that BJP-TDP tie-up and the impact of Jana Sena leader Pawan Kalyan would make them emerge as the biggest player in Seemandhra. The Congress party was decimated even in the home district of APCC president N Raghuveera Reddy who said that they accept the people’s verdict. It failed to bag even a single municipality in the region.

Congress which stood much ahead of TRS in the municipal polls in Telangana is confident that it would repeat the same performance in the Assembly elections as well. TPCC president Ponnala Lakshmaiah said, the election results had reflected the sentiments of the Telangana people. He said the results had broken the myth that Congress had failed in Telangana and would suffer drubbing at the polls. He said Congress party has a good cadre unlike TRS. But, the TRS leader Etela Rajender refuted this claim of Ponnala and said that the results of the civic bodies do not reflect the mood of the entire electorate. "Even though our party lacks proper structure and network in urban areas, our party has fared considerably well in the municipal polls. We will put up a good show in MPTC/ZPTC polls also. But, the results of the local body' polls will never reflect the actual views of voters. Hence, we are sure we will sweep the Assembly polls in Telangana," he said.