Busy in saving own seats Cong seniors leave candidates to their fates

Warangal/Mahabubabad: The outcome of the Lok Sabha elections in Telangana is an assortment of sorts with the TRS failing to reign supreme as it did in the Assembly polls held in December 18.

With the Lok Sabha polls taking place close on the heels of elections to the Legislative Council in which three candidates backed by the TRS suffered a defeat, the Congress hoped a turnaround in its fortune. Both the Congress candidates Dommati Sambaiah from Warangal and Porika Balram Naik from Mahabubabad Lok Sabha seats had even told The Hans India that it was the beginning of the fall of the TRS.

Initially, the Congress paced its campaigning very well in both the Lok Sabha constituencies. But when the candidates needed to lift the level of campaign to next level, none of the top leaders of the Congress including TPCC president N Uttam Kumar Reddy and TPCC Campaign Committee chairman Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka turned up for the electioneering.

Of the seven Assembly segments that come under Warangal Lok Sabha constituency, except Bhupalpally all others are held by the TRS.

While Dommati Sambaiah had to content with the services of Bhupalpally MLA Gandra Venkata Ramana Reddy who is also the Parliamentary constituency in-charge, the TRS candidate Pasunuri Dayakar had the advantage of six MLAs to lead the campaigning. This apart, the TRS' campaigning was also spearheaded by Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, party working president K T Rama Rao and Minister for Panchayat Raj Errabelli Dayakar Rao.

Even though the Congress had won four of the seven Assembly segments in Mahabubabad Lok Sabha constituency, two of them – Haripriya Naik of Yellandu and Rega Kantha Rao of Pinapaka - shifted loyalties to the ruling TRS soon after Assembly elections. The Congress nominee Balram Naik was left with Mulugu MLA Seethakka alias Danasari Anasuya and Bhadrachalam MLA Podem Veeraiah for electioneering. At one point of time, Balram Naik had even poured out his anguish at his party bigwigs for not supporting him in the campaigning. Despite this, there was no help from his partymen.

"The Congress lacked firepower to expose the failures of the TRS. With some top leaders busy with their own electioneering, they didn't visited Warangal and Mahabubabad. Even though there was a possibility for other leaders to campaign, they didn't heed to the pleas of Dommati Sambaiah and Balram Naik. Despite this, the Congress fared well in Warangal constituency compared to 2015 by-poll, where it conceded seventh highest majority in Lok Sabha elections countrywide i.e. 4.60 lakh," a senior Congress leader said, expounding on factors that contributed to the downfall of his party. It may be mentioned here that Congress which conceded a majority of 3.50 lakh votes to Pasunuri Dayakar is the highest in Lok Sabha elections in Telangana in 2019. On the other hand, the Congress conceded a majority of 1.47 lakh to TRS' Maloth Kavitha in Mahabubabad Lok Sabha constituency.

Lack of financial support and absence of star campaigners have made Congress candidates fall short of pre-poll expectations, the leader said.