As being feared, the political graph of the grand old party of India, Congress, continues to go down further in Telangana with two back-to-back poor shows – the by-election for Dubbak Assembly constituency first and now in the GHMC elections, indicating the fast-changing political landscape in the State.
Stung by the pathetic show in GHMC election, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) chief N. Uttam Kumar Reddy was quick to resign from his post on Friday. According to insiders, he quit the post due to increasing pressure from within the party for change of guard.
The party’s State headquarters, Gandhi Bhavan, wore a deserted look from the beginning of the counting process on Friday morning, as the party rank and file had no hopes, whatsoever, in spite claims made for the consumption of the media by a few leaders here and there. As the celebrations in the nearby State office of BJP, just a stone’s throw away from Gandhi Bhavan, picked up with the declaration of ward-wise results one-by-one, the silence in the corridors of Congress office stretched further.
Unable to show any improvement in its performance of 2016 when the party had won only two seats, the party struggled to make its presence felt in this election with the BJP hogging the limelight, taking the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) head-on and could win only two seats again this time. Interestingly, the GHMC ward – A.S. Rao Nagar and Uppal – fall in the Malkajgiri Parliamentary constituency represented by working president of Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) A. Revanth Reddy.
Dejected by the party’s performance, Mr. Revanth Reddy blamed it on the media. He alleged that “media was sold out to ‘packages’ highlighting the TRS and BJP. It also created a narrative that GHMC election is only a fight between TRS and BJP”. He, however, claimed that the party had improved its vote share this time compared to 2016.
A few senior leaders of the party, unwilling to come on record, felt that infighting and lack of leadership had cost the Congress dear this time. Although no national-level leader was roped for electioneering in GHMC polls, all the top names of TPCC had participated in campaigning but had clear lack of cohesion and coordination.
“Besides, a sense of lack of dependability on Congress leaders is also one of the major reasons for the party’s poor show given the fact that one of the two corporators, who had won last time, had defected to TRS. Later, seven of its 12 MLAs also defected to the ruling party, denting the psyche of party supporters badly,” another senior leader said.
Meanwhile, former Chevella MP Konda Vishveshwar Reddy took to social media to say the least about the likely future of the Congress in the State. He said, “Postal ballots (in GHMC election) reflect the opinion of employees and the elderly. Two things are clear, general public are against TRS and they feel only BJP can take on TRS and not Congress.”
