Gone with the wind

Nalgonda: TRS proved its mettle in the Congress strong hold erstwhile Nalgonda district in the State Assembly elections as out of 12 seats, TRS won nine, where Congress could secure only three seats .  

Congress candidates TPCC chief Uttam kumar Reddy retained his seat from Huzurnagar with a majority of 8,120 votes over his TRS rival candidate Saidhi Reddy,  MLC Komatireddy Rajgopal reddy proved his charisma  from Munugodu Assembly constituency by winning the seat with respectable majority of 22,552 votes over  TRS sitting MLA Kusukuntla Pabhakar Reddy, whereas, Komatireddy brothers disciple former MLA Chirumarthi Lingaiah, who lost election from Nakrekal in 2014, defeated his old political rival and TRS candidate Vemula Veeresham with a majority of 8,259 votes and   retained his seat  in this election.

Congress senior leader Kunduru Jana Reddy  was defeated by his rival TRS candidate  Nomula Narsimaiah with a margin of 9,000 votes , whereas four times record winner from Nalgonda constituency  Komatireddy Venkat Reddy lost the election against TRS candidate Kancharla Bhupal Reddy with huge margin of  27,698  votes. The party cadre and supporters of Janareddy and Komatireddy were unable to digest the defeat of their loving leaders.

In Kodad Assembly constituency, TPCC chief Uttam Kumar Reddy’s wife N Padmavathi gave tough fight against her rival TRS candidate Bollam Mallaiah Yadav and lost election with a slight margin of 756 votes. She has appealed to the Election Commission for recounting in view of this officials kept the result pending. 

Except Munugodu, There is no change in result  where TRS won the seats in 2014 and other MLAs N Bhaskar Rao of Miryalaguda, Ramavath Ravindra Kumar of Deverakonda, who shifted their loyalty towards TRS also retained their seats as TRS candidates this time.

Ramavath Ravindra Kumar won the Deverakonda seat with a thumping majority of 38,848 over his congress rival ZP chairman Balu Naik. Also, Nallamothu Bhaskar Rao won the Miryalguda seat with 30,652 votes huge majority over his rival Congress candidate, BC Sankshema Sangam national president R Krishnaiah.

Former MLAs Pailla Shekar Reddy, Gongidi Sunitha from Bhongir and Aler constituencies retain their seats from Bhongir, Aler constituencies respectively, triangular contests in two constituencies helped the duo to retain their seats comfortably. Gongidi Sunitha won the  Aler Assembly seat with huge  majority of 33,172 votes over his rival DCC president  Budida Bixamaiah Goud, where as TRS candidate  Pylla Sheakar Reddy won the Bhongir seat  second time with a respectable majority of  24,063 votes over his rival Congress candidate Kumbam Anilkumar Reddy. 

In Tungaturthi, TRS candidate Gadhari Kishore reatained the seat with slight majority of 600 votes over his rival Congress  candidate Addanki Dayakar but on  an appeal of Congress candidate, officials concerned started counting of  votes manually though VVPAT slips of 11 ,600  in  13 polling stations of the constituency for clarity.  In Tungaturthi constituency,  Congress lost the seat due to  contesting of  party rebel candidate Dr Ravi.

Meanwhile, Minister G Jagadish Reddy, who is pet to CM KCR, has retained his Suryapet seat with  5,842 votes majority over his Congress rival former minister  Ramreddy Damoder Reddy. This time minister got more than double majority than 2014 election majority  indicates his increased popularity due to thousands of crores of development works done in the constituency during the last four and half years .

Meanwhile, except in Bhongir and Suryapet, in the rest of the 10 constituencies in erstwhile Nalgonda district BJP candidates failed to get their own cadre and sympathizers votes.

Political analysts felt that the TRS government’s welfare schemes helped the party to get 9 out of 12 Assembly seats in erstwhile Nalgonda district. At the same time, group politics, delay in selection of candidates lead to worst results for the Congress party in the district.