TRS completes grand sweep, TD loses all deposits, Congress in 4 seats

(Courtesy : http://www.deccanchronicle.com/hyderabad/trs-completes-grand-sweep-td-loses-all-deposits-congress-4-seats-413)

It was a landslide victory for the Telangana Rashtra Samiti candidates in 11 out of 12 Assembly constituencies that went for by-polls in the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh on July 27. The 12th seat, Nizamabad-Urban, went to the TRS' ally, the BJP.

By early morning on Saturday when the results were announced at the end of a lengthy counting process that began on Friday, some of the TRS victors set new records in the state's electoral history.

For the first time in its political history, the Telugu Desam had to forfeit deposits in all the 12 Assembly segments while ruling Congress met with the same fate in four constituencies.

In Siddipet in Medak district, T. Harish Rao, nephew of TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao, set a new record by winning the by-election with a margin of 95,858 votes against his Congress rival Srinivas Goud. The Congress as well as the TDP, which stood third here, lost the deposits.

Harish Rao won from Siddipet for fourth consecutive time. his victory margin is said to be by far the largest margin ever recorded in the Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh.

Interestingly, the Medak district administration, led by collector S. Suresh Kumar, also set a record by completing the counting process in just over 90 minutes.

TRS candidate Gaddam Aravinda Reddy retained his Mancherial seat in Adilabad district with a record margin of 78,047 votes as against 13,827 he got in 2009.

Reddy's victory margin is the second largest after Harish Rao's in the bypolls. The Congress lost its deposit in Mancherial as well.

Koppula Easwar, another notable TRS candidate, improved his victory margin from modest 1,484 votes in 2009 to a staggering 58,891 to bag the Dharmapuri seat in Karimnagar district.

TRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao's son K. Taraka Rama Rao secured a handsome margin of 44,642 votes in the by-election from Sircilla.

It is a sweet victory for Rama Rao this time in more ways than one as he scraped through with a margin of just 173 votes against the TRS rebel candidate K.K. Mahender Reddy in his first electoral battle in 2009.

Mahender Reddy was the Congress' official nominee this time but lost his deposit following the bitter defeat.

TRS' Dasyam Vinay Bhaskar saw his victory margin in Warangal West constituency swell ten-fold from 6,684 last year to 67,524 this time.

Similarly, the victory margins of E. Rajender and K. Vidyasagar Rao have more than tripled in Huzurabad and Korutla Assembly segments as compared to the 2009 general elections.

Rajender secured a majority of 55,360 votes this time compared to 15,035 while Vidyasagar Rao got 56,525 now as against 15,545 in 2009.

The Vemulawada (Karimnagar district) TRS nominee Chennamaneni Ramesh too put up an impressive show, romping home with a margin of 50,451 votes this time.

As the TD candidate in 2009, Ramesh had managed to get a majority of only 1,821 votes. Upon quitting his MLA seat on the statehood issue in February this year, Ramesh walked out of the TD and joined the TRS.

An intervention by the High Court, by-election to this seat was conducted along with other segments, paved the way for Ramesh's re-election.

In Chennur (SC) in Adilabad district, TRS candidate N. Odelu won by a margin of 44,284 votes — almost four times higher than the margin (11,549) he secured in 2009.

The TRS nominee Kaveti Sammaiah too doubled his margin from 7,414 in 2009 to 15,229 now. He beat Congress' ex-MP Indrakaran Reddy who aspired to become a Cabinet minister by winning the by-election.

Another TRS candidate. E. Ravinder Reddy, was, however, not so fortunate as he could improve his victory margin only by a few hundred votes this time. Compared to the 36,859-vote margin he got in 2009, Rajender managed to take it up only to 37,535 in this time.

The results of the five constituencies came late, as ballot papers were used for polling as a number of candidates exceeded the maximum limit of 64 for an EVM.

For Y. Lakshminarayana, the lone BJP winner in the by-elections who trounced Pradesh Congress Committee president D. Srinivas in Nizamabad Urban, it was an improvement of only 966 votes in the victory margin. In 2009, Lakshminarayana won by a margin of 11,015 votes and this time by 11,981 votes.

The by-polls were necessitated as the sitting MLAs - 10 from TRS and one each from TD and BJP - had quit their post in support of separate Telangana demand.

Telangana by-poll results trigger rumblings in Congress, TDP

(Courtesy : http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/politics/telangana-by-poll-results-trigger-rumblings-in-congress-tdp_100404613.html)

The crushing defeat of the ruling Congress party and the main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in the Telangana by-elections has triggered rumblings within the two parties over the Telangana statehood issue.
Leaders of the Congress from Telangana blamed their counterparts in other regions of Andhra Pradesh for the loss, while TDP leaders from Telangana advised those opposing separate statehood to reconsider their stand.

Both Congress and TDP drew a blank in the by-elections to 12 assembly seats caused by the resignations over the Telangana issue.

TDP lost the lone seat it was holding while Congress candidates, including party’s state unit chief D. Srinivas had to bite the dust.

Chief Minister K. Rosaiah, who is from outside Telangana, said he respects the people’s verdict. Party general secretary and state incharge M. Veerappa Moily said in New Delhi that the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) won due to “local factors”.

Congress leaders from Telangana lashed out at party leaders belonging to Andhra and Rayalaseema regions for opposing the demand for a separate Telangana state.

Senior Congress leader from Telangana and former minister G. Venkatswamy blamed leaders from Andhra for the party’s defeat.

Another leader from the region T. Jeevan Reddy termed the poll results an “eye opener” for those opposing the separate Telangana demand.

Congress legislator Shankar Rao said he was happy over the election results as people, through their verdict, paid tributes to 600 “martyrs” of the Telangana movement. He said the results had increased the responsibility of the Congress party to carve out a separate Telangana.

TDP’s senior leader in Telangana N. Janardhan Reddy wanted his party leaders from other regions to reconsider their opposition to a separate state.

It may be recalled that strong protests by Congress and TDP leaders from Andhra and Rayalaseema regions had forced the central government to go back on its announcement last year to start the process for formation of Telangana state.

Telangana by-election results send out a warning to Congress

(Courtesy: http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article542490.ece)

For the Congress, its problems in what is its strongest State, Andhra Pradesh, are only growing. On Friday, the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) swept the by-elections in the State's Telangana region, winning 11 of the 12 constituencies that were being contested, thereby strengthening the case for a separate Telangana and reminding the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre of the assurance that it had given on the issue, and then backtracked on.

Congress general secretary in-charge of Andhra Pradesh and Union Law Minister M. Veerappa Moily was very guarded in his response to the results of the by-elections, where the Congress has fared poorly: “These are the people who volunteered to resign [on the Telangana issue]. The people wave chosen to vote for them,” he told The Hindu, adding, “We put up a good fight.” Asked whether the results did not put pressure on the Central government to push for the creation of a separate Telangana State, Mr. Moily said, “The matter is before the Srikrishna Commission. Let the report come.”

But a senior party functionary admitted that these results “had strengthened the case for a separate Telangana” and that from now on, “there would be greater pressure on the Centre” to act on the assurance made by Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram on December 9, 2009, when he had publicly declared the Centre's support for a new State. “We will now have to think of a new strategy,” he said.

What is worrying the Congress here, party sources said, was the fact that these results are a confirmation of the fact that it has lost the “goodwill” it had won in Telangana after the December 9 announcement: at that time, TRS supporters had celebrated the occasion, holding aloft Congress president Sonia Gandhi's portrait. The first signs of this loss of goodwill came when the Congress did a rethink on the issue, after the rest of the State exploded with party MP and former Chief Minister Y.S. Rajsekhara Reddy's son, Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, leading those opposed to the division of Andhra Pradesh. In a bid to check the violence across the State, the Centre quickly set up the Srikrishna Commission to “examine the situation in Andhra Pradesh with reference to the demand for a separate Telangana State as well as the demand for maintaining the present status of united Andhra Pradesh,” and asked it to submit its recommendations by December 31, 2010.

Congress MP Madhu Goud Yashki, whose constituency falls in the Telangana region, pointed out that the Bharatiya Janata Party's Lakshminarayana had retained the twelfth seat, defeating Congress State unit president D. Srinivas in Nizamabad urban segment, with the help of the TRS. “The TRS is our naturally ally,” Mr. Yashki said, adding, “and we need to reach out to them – we can't afford a BJP-TRS tie-up in Telangana.” Currently, the Congress holds 56 of the 119 assembly segments and 12 of the17 Lok Sabha seats in the Telangana region.

So, while the Congress was not holding any of the seats that went to the polls on July 27, the results are a reminder of how much the party stands to lose if it does not get its Telangana strategy right before the next elections. The by-elections for 12 Assembly seats were called after 10 TRS MLAs and one MLA each of the Opposition BJP and the regional Telugu Desam Party resigned to register their demand for a separate State of Telangana earlier this year.