Will the Opposition vote get consolidated towards the BJP in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) elections on December 1? That is the question haunting the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS).
Three divisions of Sangareddy district — Patancheru, Bharati Nagar and Ramachandrapuram — come under GHMC limits. Every political party has been making all-out efforts to win the elections but less presence of main Opposition party, Congress, has been worrying the TRS.
“Winning the Dubbak byelections has given additional strength to the already aggressive BJP and created a trust among the public that there is a strong alternative to the TRS. In the previous GHMC elections, voters did not dare to think beyond TRS. But the situation seems to have changed now and locals are raising their voice,” said Anjaiah, a resident.
That means their perspective has changed. This translates into change of mind,” said Anjaiah, a resident of this assembly headquarters town.
The general opinion was that the BJP has pushed the Congress to the next place as Opposition after Dubbak elections and that wave seems to continue. Congress candidates not moving as aggressively as BJP candidates among voters and not getting support from senior colleagues were stated as reasons for poor presence of the party in the campaign.
“It seems a majority of voters, who voted for the Congress are switching to the BJP this time as the party has failed to create confidence as a formidable alternative to TRS,” said Prakash, another voter.
“Being the ruling party, TRS will have the advantage. Unlike Dubbak, here the minority vote will be around 20% and that will go to ruling party.”
A Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) leader “Knowingly or unknowingly, we have weakened the Congress by attracting their leaders and the vacuum was filled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
