Defeat of Chary, Chandulal only blemish in TRS' huge win

Warangal: Even though the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) reigned supreme in the State and as well as in the erstwhile Warangal district, the party had to face a huge upset with two of its senior pros - Speaker Sirikonda Madhusudhana Chary and Minister Azmeera Chandulal – biting the dust at the hustings in the hands of Congress’ Gandra Venkata Ramana Reddy and Danasari Anasuya alias Seethakka. While Speaker finished third, Chandulal lost his seat to Seethakka by a margin over 15,000 votes.

Barring this fiasco, the TRS has done extremely well in the erstwhile Warangal by winning 10 out of the 12 Assembly seats leaving the Congress-led Praja Kutami (People’s Front) gasping for the breath. Meanwhile, Aroori Ramesh, who won from Wardhannapet, stood next only to T Harish Rao in terms majority State-wide.

The other biggies, who lost the election are former TPCC President Ponnala Lakshmaiah (Jangaon), former Union Minister Balaram Naik (Mahabubabad) and former Minister Konda Surekha, all contesting on Congress ticket. For four-time MLA Ponnala Lakshmaiah, it was second consecutive defeat in the hands of Muthireddy Yadagiri Reddy.

Another four-time MLA Konda Surekha (Congress) also lost the election to incumbent Challa Dharma Reddy (TRS) with a margin of over 40,000 votes in Parkal. Surekha, who won from Warangal East in 2014, joined the Congress after TRS leadership ignored her name in the first list of candidates.

Much on predicted lines, Dasyam Vinay Bhaskar (TRS) posted his fourth consecutive win from Warangal West seat. He defeated his nearest rivals - Telugu Desam’s Revuri Prakash Reddy and BJP’s Marthineni Dharma Rao.

Mayor Nannapuneni Narender, who contested on TRS ticket from Warangal East constituency, trounced Congress’ Vaddiraj Ravichandra by a margin of over 28,000 votes. Although it was a maiden election for both of them, they showed a lot of grit and determination to win the election.

Considering the absence of a strong candidate for the People’s Front in Wardhannapet constituency, ruling party’s Aroori Ramesh’s win was always on the cards and it didn’t go wrong. In the neighbouring constituency, Palakurthi, it was a hat-trick for Errabelli Dayakar Rao. Even though it was touted as a nail-biting contest, he easily defeated Congress’ Janga Raghava Reddy.

The candidature for Station Ghanpur, which appeared to be headache for the TRS leadership, finally ended on a happy note for incumbent MLA Thatikonda Rajaiah. He defeated S Indira of the Congress.

It was third time lucky for Peddi Sudarshan Reddy, who contested from Narsampet. Although he lost the seat twice (2009 and 2014), KCR reposed his faith in him by giving ticket to him again. He defeated sitting MLA Donthi Madhava Reddy (Congress), who won the seat as an independent in 2014.

DS Redya Naik (TRS), the veteran of seven elections, had registered yet another victory from Dornakal constituency by defeating Congress’ Ramchandra Naik.

The sitting TRS legislator Banoth Shankar Naik retained Mahabubabad constituency by trouncing former Union Minister Balaram Naik (Congress). Initially, there were doubts over Shankar Naik’s candidature, however, the TRS leadership reposed its faith and fielded him from the constituency.