Telangana Rashtra Samithi leadership foresaw defeat in MLC contest

Hyderabad: Anticipating negative results in the MLC elections held for two teachers and one graduates constituency, the TRS leadership decided not to field any candidates and thus reduce the damage to the party politically ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

As the party expected, the results in the three MLC constituencies went against the candidates supported by it.

Going through the trend in postal ballot votes in the Assembly elections, the TRS decided not to field candidates officially in the MLC elections. However, on the request of the candidates, the TRS extended its support to two sitting MLCs in the teachers constituency and an independent candidate in the graduates constituency.  If the TRS had fielded its candidates in the MLC elections, the results would have damaged the party’s political advantage of its thumping victory in the Assembly and the gram panchayat elections.

M  Chandrasekhar Goud, deputy commissioner, Transport department, resigned his post and contested as an independent candidate. He had requested the support of TRS leaders. As the TRS has no official candidate in the field, it decided to support him. From the Congress, former minister T Jeevan Reddy contested. Out of 1,05,427 votes, Jeevan Reddy got 56,698 votes, and Chandrasekhar Goud, supported by the TRS, got 17,268 votes. The BJP candidate P Sugunakar Rao got 15,077 votes.

The Karimnagar teachers constituency consists of four districts — Karimnagar, Adilabad, Medak and Nizamabad. In the assembly elections in these four districts, the Congress secured more postal ballot votes than the TRS.

In the Karimnagar teachers constituency, sitting TRS MLC Pathuri Sudhakar Reddy contested as an independent candidate as the TRS decided not to give him a B form. Other contestants were Congress leader and former MLC B. Mohan Reddy and PRTU leader K. Raghottam Reddy. Mr Raghottam Reddy won by 1707 votes, beating Congress candidate Mohan Reddy; TRS supported candidate Sudhakar Reddy was in third place.

In the Warangal-Nalgonda-Khammam teachers constituency, the TRS sitting MLC Poola Ravindar contested, though the TRS did not give him a B form but did extend support. TS UTF leader A Narsi Reddy contested with the support of the left parties and the Congress. It was Mr Narsi Reddy who won with a majority of 2,729 votes against Mr Poola Ravindar.

In Warangal-Nalgonda-Khammam districts also the Congress got more postal ballot votes than the TRS in the Assembly elections. TRS leaders believe that the state government’s attitude with regard to PRC, interim relief and contributory pension scheme for government employees and teachers, has led to disappointment and this was reflected in the MLC results.

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