Congress turncoats spell doom for TRS

BJP wins big in Musheerabad, LB Nagar and Goshamahal; makes inroads into MIM strongholds of Yakutpura, Malakpet and Karwan

TRS supporters celebrating the party’s win in Greater Hyderabad Muncipal Corporation elections in Hyderabad on Friday.

A significant fallout of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) polls for the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) was its outright defeat to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in both Assembly constituencies where the former was represented by Congress turncoats.

In L.B. Nagar constituency, which had the largest number of eleven divisions in GHMC limits, the TRS drew a blank. Party MLA D. Sudhir Reddy had won on Congress ticket two years ago but switched over to the TRS. Similarly, there were two divisions in Maheswaram constituency represented by Education Minister P. Sabita Indra Reddy that went to polls but the party lost both of them. She, too, was the Congress candidate in the last Assembly elections.

Among other constituencies where the TRS MLAs had to bite the dust were Musheerabad; there the party lost five of the six divisions. In Amberpet, it lost three of five divisions and another three of nine divisions in Malkajgiri. The party also lost three out of six divisions in Sanathnagar. All of them were won by the BJP.

The other TRS-held constituencies where it lost were Rajendranagar and Uppal (two each) and Jubilee Hills, Serilingampally, Kukatpally and Qutbullapur (one each). Significantly, the TRS won all the five divisions in Secunderabad constituency. The major victories for TRS were Serilingampally (nine), Kukatpally and Qutbullapur (seven each), Malkajgiri (five) and Khairatabad (four).

Apart from L.B. Nagar and Musheerabad, BJP gained significant ground in Goshamahal (five) which is represented by party MLA T. Raja Singh. It also made inroads into MIM strongholds like Yakutpura, Malakpet and Karwan where it won two divisions. BJP, however, could not open its account in other MIM-held constituencies of Charminar, Chandrayangutta, Bahadurpura and Nampally. All were won by MIM.

The BJP had much to cheer from its performance in Hyderabad Lok Sabha constituency represented by MIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi. It won 11 of the 32 divisions in the constituency but trailed behind the TRS in Secunderabad Parliamentary constituency. In Secunderabad, where the sitting MP is Union Minister of State for Home and BJP senior leader G. Kishan Reddy, the TRS won 18 divisions, BJP 13 and the MIM 9. It was an almost close fight between TRS and the BJP in Malkajgiri Parliamentary constituency which is held by Congress MP A. Revanth Reddy. The TRS won 25 divisions here and the BJP 18.

The Congress scored its two victories in Uppal Assembly constituency, which is part of Malkajgiri Lok Sabha seat.