HYDERABAD: Did the fact that
former minister T Harish Rao’s services were restricted to just one Lok Sabha constituency and not utilised all over the state during for campaigning by TRS have a bearing on the poll outcome? The six-time MLA from Siddipet was restricted only to Medak parliamentary constituency, and he did not go beyond it to campaign for party candidates. Initially, his name was not even in the party campaigners’ list.
From initially campaigning for TRS candidate Kotha Prabhakar Reddy only in the Siddipet Assembly segment of Medak Lok Sabha seat, he moved to other parts of the constituency, but only later.
Harish did not campaign anywhere else in the state.
He was involved in the struggle for a separate Telangana state along with his uncle K Chandrasekhar Rao for several years. KCR had also got him inducted into the YS Rajasekhar Reddy minister in undivided AP before the TRS pulled out of the Congress-led government to press further for a separate state. After the TRS came to power in 2014, Harish Rao was rewarded with the irrigation portfolio. The Kaleshwaram project took shape with Harish Rao at the helm. However, after the 2018 Assembly elections, Harish Rao was not inducted into the ministry. Lest that sends a wrong signal, KCR also did not induct his son, KT Rama Rao, into the cabinet. Taking to twitter, Harish Rao expressed happiness at Kotha Prabhakar Reddy winning from Medak. “In all the Assembly segments and mandals, people have shown their trust in the leadership of KCR,” he said thanking voters.