Telangana dumps Sonia

The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) led by K. Chandrasekhar Rao, who runs a tight ship, is all set to form the first government in the new state of Telangana which comes into existence on June 2.

A heavy anti-incumbency baggage carried by the Congress, the failure to ensure a cohesive election campaign and the presence of a dozen party leaders pulling in different directions and eyeing the chief minister’s chair even before the votes were cast have cost the ruling party dearly in Telangana, where it is likely to end up in the third position behind the TDP-BJP combine.

The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) led by K. Chandrasekhar Rao, who runs a tight ship, is all set to form the first government in the new state of Telangana which comes into existence on June 2. The party already has 47 of the 119 Assembly seats in its kitty and having established lead in another 16 seats, there is little doubt that the party will get past the magic figure of 60 seats to form the government.

Even as the Congress and its Telangana leadership floundered in effectively projecting the fact that it was the ruling party which played a key role in granting separate statehood, KCR, as the TRS chief is known, went to known claiming entire credit for the fulfillment of the long-cherished dream of the people of Telangana. And why not, after all it was KCR who led and sustained the separate statehood movement for 13 long years.

Be that as it may, what is shocking is that the TDP-BJP combine has outstripped the Congress, which nurtured hopes of forming the government in Telangana, by several yards in the race for the second position. Rubbing salt to injury, the TDP-BJP combine has so far bagged six assembly seats and is leading in as many 18 seats while the Congress has won 10 seats and is leading in another 10 constituencies.

The Congress campaign was lackadaisical in the run up to the elections till party president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi arrived on the scene and attempted to pep up the cadres. There appears to have been a false perception among the Congress leadership in Telangana that people would deify Sonia Gandhi for granting separate statehood and shower her with votes. Wrong. They saw in KCR the folk hero who alone was responsible for achieving the six-decade long dream.

Also, the last minute strategic alliance between the TDP and the BJP must have cost the Congress enough votes to cause damage. The non-TRS voters particularly the youth and women, who would probably have chosen Congress over TDP, may have been swayed by the Modi wave that swept the country.

All in all, a very dismal situation for the Congress from which it may find it difficult to recover for a long time.

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• India