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TRS wrests Congress stronghold

Continuing its victory march, the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) on Tuesday pulled off a landslide win in Narayankhed Assembly by-election in Medak district of Telangana, wresting the seat from Congress by a massive margin of 53,625 votes.
The result added an aura of invincibility to the TRS which had recently scored back-to-back victories in the Warangal Lok Sabha by-election and the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC).
The TRS candidate M Bhupal Reddy trounced his nearest Congress rival P Sanjeeva Reddy by a huge margin. While Bhupal Reddy polled 93,076 votes, Sanjeeva Reddy got 39,451 votes. The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) candidate Vijaypal Reddy lost the deposit, managing to get just 14,787 votes.
Narayankhed constituency was long considered a traditional Congress bastion. The by-poll was necessitated following the death of Sanjeeva Reddy's father P Kishta Reddy. The by-election, held on February 13, saw a massive voter turnout of over 82 percent. The TRS candidate maintained consistent lead over his rivals right from the first round.
In the recent elections to the GHMC, the TRS bagged 99 seats of the 150-member civic body while Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) came second with 44 divisions. The TRS, which had spearheaded the statehood movement, also won Warangala Lok Sabha seat with a massive margin.
Meanwhile, the exodus of TDP leaders to the ruling party continued. A former MLA Yunis Sultan and former MLC P Nageswara Rao on Tuesday joined the TRS in Khammam in the presence of the party president and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.
Ever since the TRS came to power in June 2014, there has been a continuous exodus of leaders into the ruling party. In all, 4 MLAs from Congress, 2 from YSR Congress, 2 from BSP and 10 from TDP have joined the TRS whose tally in the 119-member Assembly has now gone up to 81.
news@khaleejtimes.com

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