Hyderabad: With a huge lead in Telangana, BJP poses a new challenge to Congress
Hyderabad: Six months after capturing power in Telangana, the Congress is facing a fresh challenge from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as it more than doubled its tally of Lok Sabha seats in the state to eight. Building on its impressive performance in the recent assembly elections, the BJP made a big gain by winning eight of the 17 Lok Sabha seats, almost reaching its target of 10 seats. BJP candidates finished second in six other constituencies. This is the BJP’s best performance so far in Telangana, which is considered the party’s second gateway to south India after Karnataka. The Congress, which was expecting to win 10-12 seats, managed to win only eight seats. The ruling party in the state not only suffered a defeat in Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s home district Mahbubnagar, but also in Malkajgiri, from where Revanth Reddy was elected to the Lok Sabha in the last elections. The BJP, which won four seats with a vote share of 19.5 per cent in 2019, has improved its vote share to 35.08 per cent. This is a huge gain for the BJP, which polled 13.90 per cent of the votes in the November 2023 assembly elections and won eight seats in the 119-member assembly.
After the main opposition party Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) was almost wiped out in these elections, the BJP may become more aggressive as an opposition party to challenge the ruling Congress. Both the BJP and the Congress gained at the cost of the BRS, which could not win a single seat. This is the BRS’s worst ever performance since the party was founded in 2001. The BRS was hoping to salvage some honour after losing power to the Congress. The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) retained the Hyderabad seat as its president Asaduddin Owaisi registered his fifth consecutive victory.
The BJP, which had won four seats in 2019, not only retained them but also wrested four seats from the BRS and the Congress. Expanding its presence, the BJP won Malkajgiri and Chevella seats adjoining Hyderabad for the first time. It also won Medak and Mahbubnagar, where it had won earlier. Union minister and state BJP president G. Kishan Reddy retained Secunderabad by a margin of 49,944 votes over his nearest rival Danam Nagendra of the Congress. Nagendra was elected to the Assembly as a BRS candidate in the recent elections but switched to the Congress and got the party ticket. BJP general secretary Bandi Sanjay Kumar retained Karimnagar by a margin of 2,25,209 votes against his nearest rival V. Rajendra Rao.
The BJP also retained the Nizamabad seat, where sitting MP D. Arvind defeated T. Jeevan Reddy of the Congress by 1.09 lakh votes. The BJP also retained Adilabad, where its candidate Godam Ganesh won by a margin of 90,652 votes against Athram Suguna of the Congress. Former minister Eetala Rajender, who was defeated in the recent assembly elections, won the Malkajgiri seat for the BJP, defeating P. Sunitha Mahender Reddy by a huge margin of over 3.91 lakh votes. Another prominent BJP leader M. Raghunandan Rao, who also faced defeat in the assembly elections, won the Medak seat. He defeated Neelam Madhu of the Congress by a margin of 39,139 votes. The BRS lost the seat for the first time since 2004.
This is also a major setback for the BRS as Medak is the home district of party chief and former chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, who represents the Gajwel assembly constituency under the Medak constituency. The BRS had won six of the seven assembly constituencies under this parliamentary constituency. Konda Vishweshwar Reddy of the BJP won the Chevella seat by a margin of over 1.72 lakh votes. G. Ranjith Reddy of the Congress came second. In 2019, Ranjit Reddy was selected as the BRS candidate but he joined the Congress after he was denied re-nomination.
BJP national vice-president D.K. Aruna won by a margin of over 4,000 votes in Mahbubnagar against Congress’ Challa Vamshi Chand Reddy. This is also a big setback for the Congress as Mahbubnagar is the home district of Chief Minister Revanth Reddy. Congress, which won three Lok Sabha seats with 30.2 per cent vote share in 2019, also increased its vote share to 40.10 per cent. In the assembly elections held in November 2023, the Congress party won 64 seats in the 119-member assembly with 39.40 per cent vote share. BRS, which had won 39 seats with 37.35 per cent vote share, suffered a huge loss as the vote share fell to 16.68 per cent.
The Congress retained Nalgonda and Bhongir seats and wrested Peddapalle, Nagarkurnool, Warangal, Khammam, Zahirabad and Mahabubabad seats from BRS. In Nalgonda, Kunduru Raghuveer defeated his nearest rival S. Saidi Reddy of the BJP by 5,59,905 votes, one of the highest victory margins in the country. Raghuveer, son of senior Congress leader K. Jana Reddy, got 7,84,337 votes while Saidi Reddy got 2,24,432 votes. Kadiyam Kavya, who joined the Congress after being fielded by BRS from Warangal constituency, won the seat by a margin of over 2.20 lakh votes.
