HYDERABAD: The outcome of the byelections for the six Assembly seats is being seen not only as an endorsement of the Telangana movement, but also as one that is certain to cast a long shadow on the future of main political players.In the bypoll battle, the TRS has emerged stronger: it won four seats and as a result its tally went up to 16 from 12 in the Assembly. The YSRC too has improved its position— the lone party MLA YS Vijayamma has company in the Assembly now with Nallapureddy Prasanna Kumar Reddy’s victory.The TDP and the Congress drew a blank. In fact, the TDP lost security deposits in Mahbubnagar, Kamareddy and Nagarkurnool. The byelections have made another party, besides TRS, stronger: the BJP. Its tally in the Assembly will be three since it won Mahbubnagar seat in a keenly fought election with TRS nominee Syed Ibrahim.By afternoon, the picture was clear: the TRS won four of the six seats— Kollapur, Station Ghanpur, Kamareddy and Adilabad. Of the remaining two, Nagam Janardhan Reddy, with TRS support, won Nagarkurnool, while Mahbubnagar seat went to BJP’s Yennam Srinivasa Reddy.Though the TRS leaders are gloating over snatching four extra seats in Telangana, they are unable to digest the fact that Mahbubnagar, which forms part of Mahbubnagar Lok Sabha constituency represented by TRS chief K Chandrasekhara Rao, went to the BJP. More than the loss of Mahbubangar, what is worrying the TRS is that BJP too is emerging as a champion of Telangana movement. The tag belonged to the TRS till now. Chandrasekhara Rao claimed that he was not upset over losing Mahbubnagar. “The people have voted for Telangana cause. What else do you want?” Rao asked.However, the TRS does not seem to like BJP forcing itself into the scanty political space. Though Mahbubnagar has BJP presence for decades, what helped Yennam Srinivasa Reddy was the stand the party had taken on Telangana issue.The TRS, while keeping a watch on BJP, is keen on isolating the TDP to the extent possible as it perceives a greater threat to the existence of TRS from Naidu than from anyone else. According to sources, the TRS did not appreciate the fact that the TDP had improved on its polling percentage and wanted to draw strategies to ensure that it stayed down and out.The byelection results are troubling the Congress as well since YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has grown stronger by helping his nominee N Prasanna Kumar Reddy win the Kovur Assembly seat with a convincing margin. The Congress is afraid that if there is a repeat of the YSR Congress performance in the byelections to be held for 17 Assembly seats in the near future, there might be an exodus of Congress MLAs to J- camp, which might give ideas to Jagan Mohan Reddy to pull the rug from under the feet of Kiran Kumar Reddy.In the unfortunate event of the Congress having to go for mid-term elections, what is troubling the party is the possibility of Jagan Mohan Reddy cutting into the votes of the Congress as he did in Kovur where the second place went to TDP nominee and the Congress ended third.Already Kiran Kumar Reddy’s detractors are raising the issues of lack of inspiring leadership. Family Welfare Minister D L Ravindra Reddy said: “Kiran and Botcha should own responsibility for the drubbing that the party has received.” The voices of the dissidents in the Congress would only grow shriller from now on, analysts say.The strategy of TRS appears to be to isolate the TDP and prevent it from rising in the electoral battle. According to sources, the TRS is not attaching much importance to the prospect of Congress resurrecting and leading the state, which is making analysts wonder whether in the distant future, there might be a tacit understanding between the separatist party and Jagan Mohan Reddy as both appear to be poised for a leap. As the TDP will be in the way, the two parties would concentrate on isolating Naidu.
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