Political Chess: Strategic Party Switches Determine Winners & Losers in TS Elections

HYDERABAD: Proving that making the right move at the right time in politics can possibly make all the difference between success and failure, several leaders from different parties demonstrated on Sunday that they took just the right decision and won the elections to the Telangana Assembly by winning, while some who believed they made the right choice after winning the elections in 2018, but losing this time around.

Among the notables who switched parties before these elections and won were Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy (Palair), Jupally Krishna Rao (Kollapur), Kasireddy Narayana Reddy (Kalwakurthy), Sarita Tirupataiah (Gadwal), M. Samelu (Tungathurthy), Tummala Nageswara Rao (Khammam), Payam Venkateswarulu (Pinapaka), Koram Kanakaiah (Illendu), and Shyam Naik (Asifabad).

Among those who quit the BJP to join the Congress and romped home with victories were G. Vivek Venkatswamy (Chennur), and Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy (Munugode).  

Also victorious was Aleti maheshwar Reddy (Nirmal) who joined the BJP from the Congress in April 2023, while Yennam Srinivas Reddy (Mahbubnagar), who was in the BJP and joined Congress, also won.

Not all who made such switches did well as Vemula Veeresam (Nakrekal), as was also the case with Mynampally Hanumanth Rao (Malkajgiri) who quit the BRS to join the Congress before the elections.

Some Congress MLAs who won on that party’s ticket in 2018 but then joined the BRS too found out on Sunday that they no longer had the support of the people. Among them were J. Surender (Yellareddy), P. Rohit Reddy (Tandur), Beeram Harshvardhan Reddy (Kollapur), Chirumarthi Lingaiah (Nakrekal), Gandra Venkataramana Reddy (Bhupalapalli), Rega Kanta Rao (Pinapaka), Vanama Venkateswara Rao (Kothagudem), and Haripriya Naik (Illendu).