The Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) suffered a major setback in Andhra Pradesh on Sunday, winning only seven of the 16 assembly seats
HYDERABAD: The Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) suffered a major setback in Andhra Pradesh on Sunday, winning only seven of the 16 assembly seats and two of the four Lok Sabha seats where by-polls were held after the seats were vacated by the TRS to prove its clout in the 10 Telangana districts of the state.
The Congress and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) shared the spoils, wresting six and five assembly seats and one Lok Sabha seat each.
The most shocking aspect of the results was the drastic reduction in the victory margin of former Union minister and TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR), who won the Karimnagar parliamentary seat by a meagre 15,765 votes compared to the record-breaking 2,08,000 in 2004.
Driven to polls for the fourth time in as many years, the people of Telangana seem to have vented their ire against the TRS leadership. The development mantra of the state government and the loan waiver scheme have bettered the Telangana sentiment, chief minister YSR Reddy said even as TRS chief KCR offered to step down owning moral responsibility for the drubbing.
Some TRS workers staged high drama threatening to self-immolate outside Telangana Bhavan to stall his move. The TRS was able to retain the Hanmakonda and Karimnagar Lok Sabha seats and the Siddipet, Dommat, Mydaram, Huzurabad, Kamlapur and Cheriyal assembly seats.
The Congress bagged the Adilabad parliamentary seat apart from the Jedcherla, Vikarabad, Musherabad, Khairatabad, Yellareddy, Dichpalli assembly seats. The TDP won the Warangal Lok Sabha seat, besides Terlam, Secunderabad, Khanapur, Ghanpur and Ramayampet assembly seats.
Political analysts say the vote was not against Telangana but against the TRS and Chandrasekhar Rao.
“The TRS drove the people to elections twice after 2004 but proved nothing,” said CL Narasimha Rao. Secondly, people appeared to be convinced that the TRS could not deliver a separate Telangana at all.
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