City goes with Modi wave

In an interview to a national television, TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu said, “If we would have campaigned more in Telangana, we would have won more seats.” Currently the BJP-TDP alliance is the second largest party in Telangana with 22 seats; 14 of those seats were won from the city.

The city has been a stronghold of the Congress party and even in the most difficult of times, the Congress’ candidates managed to secure a victory. Even during the NTR wave in 1983, the party managed to win the city seats. But this time round, the party has been completely decimated. The party’s candidates were down to third in the pecking order in all the Assembly constituencies in the city. Same is the case with all the three Lok Sabha constituencies.

It was initially believed that the Congress would fare well in the region and the number of seats won in the city would be crucial for the party. In an earlier interview, Malkajgiri Lok Sabha candidate Sarvey Satyanarayana said, “Congress has given the state of Telangana at the cost of Seemandhra and we are confident that the people of Telangana will vote for the party.”

National leaders like Ghulam Nabi Azad, Jairam Ramesh, Digvijay Singh had campaigned extensively in the city but their campaign couldn’t deliver the desired results. Mukesh Goud and Danam Nagender, who rose as undisputed leaders in the city, lost to top BJP candidates in Goshamahal and Khairatabad.

The surprise package though was the TDP-BJP alliance winning 14 seats. The alliance managed to win 22 seats in Telangana and 14 seats came from the city. Commenting on the TDP’s success in the city, an analyst said, “Modi wave worked in the favour of TDP-BJP alliance. Regaining Karwan from MIM and trouncing Mukesh Goud and Danam in their backyard, stand testimony for that. There was a strong anti-incumbency that the Congress had to battle. Sadly, the TRS couldn’t take advantage of this because of the lack of cadre in the city.”

The TRS managed to win only Secunderabad and Patancheru. It is believed that local voters in Secunderabad and Patancheru, which lies in the hotbed of the Telangana struggle, favoured the TRS. Chevella voted for the same sentiment. A spokesperson with the TRS admitted that it’s the lack of cadre that dealt a blow to their chances. He said that the party managed to convert the T-sentiment to votes and their second place in the constituencies proves a point.

According to analysts constituencies in the city have less percentage of the local voters to favour the TRS.