Congress missed the bus in Rajendranagar

Rangareddy: Despite a strong anti-incumbency factor against the government, the Congress and BJP failed to leverage the opportunity as BRS candidate T Prakash Goud managed to maintain a tight grip over Rajendranagar and register yet another victory with a majority of 32,096 votes.

The constituency has a projected population of 671,553, with a total of 582,030 electors. However, merely 324,917 were votes polled in the recently held elections--55.83% polling.

This is Goud’s fourth consecutive victory from Rajendranagar. He was elected twice on TDP ticket in 2009 and 2014. Subsequently, he joined the TRS and won in 2018.

The election outcome surprised even people, as most disapproved his performance during the last two terms. It goes without saying that people, specially in villages from Gandipet and Shamshabad, raised hackles against Goud when he tried to visit for campaigning.

Said Mahender of Rajendranagar, ‘Although not a well-learned person, Goud is considered 'master of manipulation' when it comes to attracting new voters and leverage support of rural people, specially in Shamshabad mandal consisting of 32 villages. This strategy always helped him keep a vice-like grip over the segment during elections."

However, what is most surprising is the performance of the saffron party; it shows a significant improvement as party for the first time reached second position as against fourth in the 2018 elections.

Although defeated, BJP candidate Tokala Srinivas Reddy managed to secure second place by getting 89,638 votes. The same position was enjoyed by the Telugu Desam in the last elections. Well educated and unflappable among all other candidates, Reddy made inroads into several strategically important areas of Shamshabad and Gandipet mandals generally considered as BRS strongholds and regularly supervised by Goud, his arch rival.

N Ravi Kumar of Mailardevpally, said"Srinivas Reddy always tries to leverage the vacuum created by the public discourse against Goud. That in many ways helps him gain ground."

"The only chunk in Srinivas' armour is that he fails to estimate the importance of minority votes, especially in densely populated areas such as Shastripuram, Hassan Nagar, Suleman Nagar, Indra Nagar and parts of Kishan Bagh in Rajendrnagar mandal. These votes play a significant role in impacting the election results," he added.

On the other hand, the Congress found itself losing ground in the segment due to poor leadership. Party candidate Kasturi Narender ended up third with 82,057 votes. He failed to take advantage of the anti-incumbency factor that played a key role in dethroning the BRS in the State.

Reacting to ‘poor’ show of the Congress, Syed Shoukat Ali, a senior politician based at Shastripuram said, “Poor campaigning, lack of dedication and team work displayed by Narender led to party defeat.”

“Had he planned the campaign properly, he could surely turn the tide against Goud who, during the entire campaign, faced stiff resistance from people in several villages of Shamshabad and Gandipet mandals,” Ali contended.