Congress down in the dumps in Palair Assembly bypoll result

Hyderabad: The Palair Assembly bypoll result is the second successive loss to the TRS for the main Opposition party, the Congress, after Narayankhed.

The party was banking on the sympathy factor by fielding Sucharita Reddy, wife of the deceased MLA Ramreddy Venkatreddy, but it was not to be. Earlier, the Congress had suffered huge defeats in Medak and Warangal Lok Sabha bypolls, and elections for the Hyderabad, Warangal, and Khammam municipal corporations.

The party had won 21 Assembly seats in the last elections, but subsequently lost two seats in bypolls and five MLAs due to defections to the TRS. There seems to be no respite for the Congress after formation of Telangana, despite the high command opting for a change of guard at the state level.

The Congress, which credits itself for granting statehood to Telangana, had taken it for granted that the voter will have no other alternative except to support it in all the polls. The party has leaders, cadre, money and material, all that it needs to face any challenge in elections, but each time it has failed to come up to the expectations.

“We are quite disappointed with the outcome, we will work harder to gain people's support, but there are a few reasons behind our defeat. The CPM got 44,000 votes in the last elections,  now got only 14,000. This means that straightaway 30,000 votes shifted to the TRS. We have to see if TD votes too went to the TRS. Fact remains, we will have to work harder,” said TPCC president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy.

However, some party leaders, on condition of anonymity, said that the party did not have a workable strategy in place. However, TD working president A. Revanth Reddy said, “At present, people are still with KCR. Unless there is a change in the mindset of the voters, there is no use of the Opposition making a hue and cry. I am sure that the people will be disillusioned with KCR’s rule and opt for an alternative.”