First election while in power turns into flop show for Congress in Telangana

Though the Congress fielded Narender Reddy in the Medak-Nizamabad-Adilabad-Karimnagar Graduates constituency, it could not win the seat due to multiple factors, including a few self-goals.

Hyderabad: The Teachers and Graduates MLC constituency elections were the first major test for the Congress after coming to power in 2023 in Telangana. Though the Congress fielded Narender Reddy in the Medak-Nizamabad-Adilabad-Karimnagar Graduates constituency, it could not win the seat due to multiple factors, including a few self-goals.

The Congress appeared to have conceded defeat even before polling commenced on February 27, with Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, at a meeting in Nizamabad on February 24, taking what is being as anticipatory bail for an impending loss, openly declaring that Narender Reddy’s loss would not affect his government. It reflected the mood in the party as well.

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Elections were conducted for Warangal-Khammam-Nalgonda and Medak-Nizamabad-Adilabad-Karimnagar Teachers constituencies but the Congress had pinned its hopes only on the Medak-Nizamabad-Adilabad-Karimnagar Graduates constituency. Right from day one when the campaign commenced in the Graduates constituency, the Congress boasted about offering over 50,000 government jobs. Apart from Revanth Reddy, seven Ministers and 23 MLAs campaigned rigorously in the constituency, which covered 15 districts and 42 assembly constituencies. Yet, it could not win the confidence of graduate voters.

The fact remains that even after over a year, the Congress government has managed to fill up only vacancies for which the process was completed during the previous BRS government’s tenure and notifications were not issued for many new posts. This apart, another factor was the failure to implement the poll promises made to the people, especially, the unemployed youth. During the 2023 assembly elections, the Congress party had promised to offer a monthly honorarium of Rs.4,000 to unemployed youth. Similarly, it had announced a crop loan waiver, increased financial assistance to farmers under Rythu Bharosa and assistance to landless farm labourers. But none of these schemes were implemented effectively, leading to continuing criticism from different sections.

While the State leadership boasted of launching several welfare and development programmes in the State, the situation at the ground level was different. As a result, the cadre could not approach the voters or convince them to support the Congress candidate. Adding to this was the caste war triggered within the party after the botched up caste census. BC leaders felt they were being neglected and betrayed and that upper caste leaders were enjoyed the benefits of the party being in power, especially in nomination for posts and even in the cabinet berth as well. And they started voicing their dissent. Congress MLC Teenmaar Mallanna was the vociferous, resulting in his suspension from the party.

Before the suspension, with the BC mood already against the party after the caste survey, the strategy to field Narender Reddy from the Medak-Nizamabad-Adilabad-Karimnagar Graduates constituency turned out to be a poor one, with the results reflecting the same. The Chief Minister had dismissed the Opposition’s refrain that the MLC elections were a referendum to the Congress government’s 14-month rule in Telangana. However, considering the fact that the elections covered nearly 60 percent of constituencies in the State, the dismal performance of the Congress has reflected what the people think of Revanth Reddy’s government.