Congress wins two seats; like in 2016 polls

Hyderabad: The Congress party secured only two seats in the GHMC elections when results were declared on Friday.

Incidentally, it was the same figure they won in the previous polls held in 2016. With TRS and BJP fighting it out in majority of the divisions, the Congress candidates were not in the reckoning at all. The two wins for the national party came in AS Rao Nagar and Uppal, both in Malkajgiri Lok Sabha segment represented by working president Revanth Reddy.

After the Dubbaka setback, where Congress was relegated to the third position with BJP winning the seat and TRS finishing second, Congress was hopeful of winning some seats, at least, sensing the anti-incumbency feeling among the urban voters.

The Congress star campaigners appealed to voters to elect at least some party candidates in GHMC poll fray to restore democracy, as the ruling party had suppressed the voice of the Opposition in the State. If one looks at the results, it is evident that voters reposed faith in another Opposition party-BJP to take on Congress.

Dubbaka and GHMC polls can be seen as a big jolt to the Congress. Already, BJP is claiming that it is the strong alternative that can take on TRS in the State.

If one may look at politics in Telangana since the State came into being in 2014, Congress was considered the strong opponent to TRS during K Chandrashekar Rao's first regime (2014-2018). However, post-2019 Lok Sabha polls, in which BJP won four seats to sprang a surprise, the saffron party's graph is going upward in the State.

However, Telangana Congress did not seriously bother about the rise of BJP in the last two years. When asked whether the party was losing ground in the State and BJP was replacing it, State Congress leaders termed BJP Dubbaka win as one-time wonder and not to read too much into it.

However, the GHMC poll results are sure to be a reality check for the national party to revisit its strategies to become a reckoning force again. The party has just three years time as the next big challenge-the general elections in Telangana will be due in 2023.