Lok Sabha polls will also be uphill task for Kutami

Hyderabad: After suffering a huge defeat in the Assembly elections, the Congress faces a difficult task in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections also. Congress has hopes of winning two Lok Sabha constituencies out of the 17 in the state.

In the recent elections, the TRS swept nine undivided districts out of 10 but in Khammam district, the People’s Front led by the Congress was the leader.

Out of the 10 Assembly seats in Khammam district, the TRS won only one (Khammam). Of the remaining nine, the Congress won six, the TD two and an independent in one seat.

If the voting trend continues in the general elections, the TRS will win 14 seats. In that case, the Congress-led Front will win the Khammam Lok Sabha seat and give a tough fight in Mahabubabad.

But Congress leaders say the voting pattern in the Lok Sabha elections will be different from that of the Assembly polls.

They said local issues would dominate the Assembly elections while the Lok Sabha polls would be about national issues.

In 2014, the TRS won 11 Lok Sabha seats and the Congress Nalgonda and Nagarkunool. It is unlikely to repeat the feat. After the elections, Nalgonda MP Gutta Sukhender Reddy joined the TRS.

In Khammam Lok Sabha constituency, the TRS won one of the seven Assembly constituencies, the Congress three, TD two and an independent, L. Ramulu, won in Wyra and later joined the TRS. In 2014, a YSRC candidate — who later joined the TRS — won the Khammam LS seat but in the simultaneous Assembly polls the party won only two.

The Congress won three Assembly seats, the TD and the TRS one each. The voters voted differently for the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections though they were held at the same time.

In Mahabubabad Lok Sabha constituency, the Congress won four seats in the recent elections and the TRS three.

The TRS is confident of winning six Lok Sabha seats, Hyderabad being left to its friendly party, MIM. The Congress hopes that it will turn in a better performance than in the Assembly polls. Congress leaders said the people will see the general elections as a BJP vs Congress battle, and the anti-BJP mood of people will help them.

The TRS has started ‘Operation Akarsh’ to demoralise the Congress leaders and cadre. The ruling party has succeeded in getting Congress MLCs and has now concentrated on MLAs, particularly in Khammam district. Not only the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress also faces the litmus test of ‘Operation Akarsh’