Dubbaka debacle makes TRS go into huddle

Hyderabad: WHAT went wrong in Dubbaka? Was it overconfidence on the part of TRS, was it because of the delay in rehabilitation and resettlement of those who lost land under Mallannasagar project?

These are some of the issues that are making rounds in TRS circles now.

Party leaders feel that they have lost Dubbaka bypoll because of a combination of factors. The party had delayed the announcement of the candidate's name, a lot of high drama had taken place with police going overboard in handling certain situations. If the name of Sujatha was announced earlier, perhaps the sentiment factor would have worked and given better results.

The BJP had gone into the field and started their campaign in mid-August while the TRS delayed its decision and despite best efforts made by Finance Minister T Harish Rao, the party could not win the seat.

The pink party leaders feel that result was unexpected. TRS never thought that BJP which had lost deposit in the last elections would win the seat.

This result as KTR had rightly said is a wake-up call particularly in view of the ensuing GHMC elections as well as Khammam and Warangal municipal elections.

The TRS leaders, who started gathering at the party office once TRS started getting leads in a few successive rounds, felt disappointed at the outcome. Voters, they said, had confronted TRS during the campaign as to why the development of the constituency was not so good when compared to Siddipet and Gajwel.

Another factor was that the BJP had succeeded in taking its claim that there was a share of the Central government in every welfare scheme of TRS into the people. Similarly, the way police raids were conducted and BJP state president Bandi Sanjay was allegedly manhandled also seem to have got some sympathy towards them, the pink party activists and leaders feel.

In previous elections, TRS used to appoint in-charges in mandals who used to ensure that the cadre was intact. The cadre used to ensure victory of the party candidate. But this time it was not done and the entire burden was put on the shoulders of Harish Rao, they say. Another reason is the failure of the Congress party to split the anti-incumbency votes.

However, they feel that the party would now go in for a detailed analysis of the reasons for its defeat and would come with a perfect action plan so that it can again win 99 seats in GHMC polls and see that the BJP is restrained to four or may be maximum of eight seats, they added.