The seemingly unassailable Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) suffered a major debacle in Nizamabad Lok Sabha constituency with its nominee and sitting MP K. Kavitha losing the seat to BJP candidate D. Arvind, younger son of TRS Rajya Sabha member Dharmapuri Srinivas.
After eight rounds of counting, he had polled 4,53,079 votes, leading by 70,606 over Ms. Kavitha. Since 12 ballot units for 185 contesting candidates were used, the counting was going on at a slow pace and each round of result was declared after thorough verification and approval of the election observer and returning officer.
The defeat of Ms. Kavitha, daughter of Chief Minister and TRS supremo K. Chandrasekhar Rao, has come as a rude shock to party cadres as the entire constituency consisting of seven Assembly segments are in tight hold of the party. In the run-up to the elections, the TRS put up an impressive show not giving any chance to observers to even imagine BJP’s victory. Important leaders in the Opposition had also defected to its fold before the elections. Contrary to expectations, BJP consistently lead over TRS from the first to the last rounds of counting.
Farmer factor
Nominations filed by 178 farmers in protest against the alleged apathy of TRS government towards their demands and a weak fight put up by Congress proved costly to TRS. The farmers, put together, garnered 93,962 votes, more than the majority (62,603 votes) earned by Mr. Arvind.
Being major beneficiaries of schemes like Rythu Bandhu and Rythu Bima, farmers would have ideally voted for the TRS had they not been humiliated with police cases and imprisonment for waging war against the government in support of their demands, observed political analysts.
Congress nominee Madhu Yaskhi Goud, a two-time MP from the constituency who flexed his muscles only before election, could gain just 65,940 votes.
Mr. Arvind’s victory is sure to have cheered up Mr. Srinivas, who has been keeping away from TRS activities after Ms. Kavitha, the then Minister P. Srinivas Reddy as well as MLAs and MLCs had unanimously recommended the leadership to expel him for his alleged anti-party activities. Mr. Srinivas, a seasoned politician, is said to have contributed his mite to his son’s victory by pulling a few strings.
The takeaway, though, from this result — defeat of the Chief Minister’s daughter at the hands of a party rebel’s son — is not all that strange for analysts since the most predictable element of politics is unpredictability.
