What Huzurnagar bypoll result tells us

An election victory always tastes sweet. If the victory is massive, the taste gets sweeter. If it is a massive victory amid growing clamour from the rivals, such a win will be the sweetest. On this measure, the massive victory secured by ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) in Huzurnagar bypoll on Thursday (October 24, 2019) falls in the sweetest category because the win came amid growing clamour over ongoing strike by TSRTC employees, which incidentally entered 19th day on the day the counting of votes took place.

As counting concluded, TRS won the high-profile constituency by a huge margin of 43,233 votes. TRS candidate Shanampudi Saidi Reddy secured 1,12,796, defeating his nearest rival Nalamada Padmavathi Reddy, Congress nominee and wife of Nalamada Uttam Kumar Reddy, current president of Telangana Congress. She secured 69,563 votes. BJP and TDP were also in the fray, but lost deposits. BJP managed to 2,621 votes while TDP was restricted to 1,827 votes. The assembly seat fell vacant after Uttam Kumar Reddy resigned post his election as Nalgonda MP in this year's General Elections. Uttam, a four-time MLA, represented this constituency since its formation in 2009. He won the seat thrice, in in 2009, 2014 and 2018.

TRS, in its massive win in Huzurnagar, has captured the last frontier in old Nalgonda district, the strongest bastion of Congress in entire Telangana. The pink party tamed Kunduru Jana Reddy in his Nagarjunasagar seat and Kometireddy Venkat Reddy in Nalgonda seat in 2018 Assembly elections. Both Reddys are strong Congress leaders in the erstwhile district.

As my recent short tour to the constituency revealed, many factors helped the pink party to wrest the traditional Congress seat in the bypolls for which polling was held on October 21. Old age pension which was enhanced to Rs 2,000 per month seemed to be top on everyone's mind in Huzurnagar. An old woman I interacted with told me that an old person could survive on that amount. Rythu Bandhu and other welfare schemes that provide monetary benefits to people also tilted scales in TRS favour. The TRS government acted cleverly by releasing Rythu Bandhu amount to farmers a few weeks before the elections. This amount was not released to farmers in other areas still now. There was also some sympathy towards TRS and its candidate as the pink party did not win here since its formation. As it's bypoll and TRS is in power, a section of people in the constituency felt that a TRS MLA could bring some development. Moreover, Uttam's wife was in the fray, not Uttam. This also changed political dynamics in Huzurnagar bypoll. Above all, TRS did a better 'poll management' and succeeded in putting its 'power' to a deft use. Money also played key role as Huzurnagar is home to a loyal Congress vote bank. Obviously, it does not ease for a candidate from an Opposition party to match the ruling party on this front. That will be much more difficult in by-elections.

Frankly speaking, TRS' win in Huzurnagar will not change political dynamics at State level. TRS won 88 out of 119 seats in 2018 Assembly elections and succeeded in getting several Congress MLAs on its side. Therefore, it has an overwhelming majority in the Assembly. So, through this victory, it has merely scored some brownie points and succeeded in painting Congress as weakening force in Telangana. Of course, the win will boost the morale of the pink party's cadre ahead of municipal elections. Besides, KTR emerged stronger politically as he was the only big leader from TRS who campaigned in the elections. Also, TRS' record of not losing by-elections since 2014 remained intact.

However, for Congress, the Huzurnagar result is a big blow and will for sure demoralise its cadre. The contest was between Uttam and TRS though his wife was in the fray. That means the captain of Telangana Congress has lost ground in his own backyard and suffered a humiliating defeat. People attribute all the development in the constituency to Uttam Kumar Reddy, but that track record did not come to Padmavathi's rescue. A whirlwind of road shows by TPCC working president Anumula Revanth Reddy couldn'talso save the Congress candidate from the ignominious defeat. The latest election loss will add further credence to growing talk in Telangana that Congress can't match TRS and its leader KCR in political warfare. In recent times, BJP has trained its guns on Telangana, but Huzurnagar result shows it is also not a force to reckon with. TDP did not make any impact either. That means there is a political vacuum in Telangana and the vacuum is widening by the day. Who will fill this vacuum and put up a strong fight against TRS? Only time will have an answer for that.