Hyderabad: The outcome of the assembly elections in Telangana shows that national and prominent leaders made little impact on voters. Instead, the people voted overwhelmingly for the regional Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS).
The Congress won only three seats in the constituencies in which its national president Rahul Gandhi campaigned. The result of the campaigning by the BJP's top leaders is even worse.
The BJP’s national leaders have had a bitter experience in Telangana. Campaigning by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP national president Amit Shah, four BJP Chief Ministers and several Central Ministers only produced one seat in the 119 member house. Maybe the people of Telangana were interested in seeing the national leaders, but not voting for them.
Prime Minister Modi campaigned in Nizamabad, Mahabubnagar and Hyderabad. The BJP managed to get one seat in Hyderabad. The party national president Amit Shah campaigned in 13 constituencies, and got nothing for his pains. Adding insult to injury, the four Chief Ministers, Yogi Adityanath, Shivraj Singh Chauhan, Devendra Fadnavis and Raman Singh campaigned in 16 constituencies and earned zero seats.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi has done a little better. He addressed public meetings and road shows in 14 constituencies across the state, and the party candidates won three. Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh N Chandrababu Naidu campaigned for the People's Front in 11 constituencies and the TD won three seats.
