BRS’ gambit that backfired

Warangal: No one predicted that Congress could turn the tables on the ruling BRS by winning 10 out of the 12 Assembly constituencies in the erstwhile Warangal district. Although the Congress anticipated that it could manage to win seven to eight seats, the way it forged ahead was never expected.

BRS sources say that the party supremo KCR persisted with the sitting MLAs Aroori Ramesh (Wardhannapet), Challa Dharma Reddy (Parkal), B Shankar Naik (Mahabubabad), Nannapuneni Narender (Warangal East), MuthireddyYadagiri Reddy (Jangaon), D S Redya Naik and ThatikondaRajaiah (Station Ghanpur) despite the fact that their CV wasn’t all that good for various reasons.

The BRS leadership replaced Station Ghanpur and Jangaon candidates with Kadiyam Srihari and PallaRajeshwar Reddy, sensing the defeat of the sitting MLAs. Interestingly, both these candidates, who are MLCs, emerged triumphant while all others suffered humiliation in the hands of the Congress. The party insiders say that it could have been a different story had KCR denied tickets to the sittings whose graph was not good. The sources say that KCR was overconfident that his name alone would win the elections.

In a surprise development, Congress Wardhannapet candidate K R Nagaraju, former IPS officer, who made his political debut with this election trounced two-time BRS MLA Aroori Ramesh. Like him, Bhukya Murali Naik (Congress) also defeated the two-time BRS MLA B Shankar Naik from Mahabubabad.

Former Narsampet MLA Revuri Prakash Reddy who joined the Congress at the last minute overcame two-time BRS MLA Challa Dharma Reddy from Parkal constituency.

His proximity with the people and sympathy of losing three elections in a row, helped Gandra Satyanarayana Rao (Congress) to win from the Bhupalpally constituency against Gandra Venkata Ramana Reddy.

Despite the odds against her, the sitting Congress Mulugu MLA Seethakka stood her ground. The Adivasis certainly remembered her services rendered to them during the coronavirus pandemic.

Even though he had done fairly well, Narsampet BRS sitting MLA Peddi Sudarshan Reddy lost the election to Donthi Madhava Reddy (Congress).

BRS cadres say that the Opposition spread lies on D Vinay Bhaskar (Warangal West) to win the election. After a long wait, NainiRajender Reddy, who got the Congress ticket, made use of the opportunity by defeating Vinay Bhaskar.

The case of Palakurthi constituency is different. Minister Errabelli had indeed worked hard for the all-round development of his constituency. Despite this, Errabelli who never lost an election had to bite the dust in the hands of 26-year-old Congress nominee M Yashaswini, NRI.