The last minute decision to enter the Hyderabad-Ranga Reddy-Mahabubnagar Graduate MLC constituency election by the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) is not an impulsive one but looks like well-thought out and all it was looking for was a candidate with a fresh face to avoid criticism from the word go.
It wanted to beat the perception of it being weak in the MLC elections with a good strategy.
The confident tone and an aggressive stand taken by the Telangana Rashtra Samithi working president, K.T. Rama Rao is not superficial or just to boost the morale of the party leaders but based on the ground work the party has done, according to party sources.
Unlike the previous elections where the party banked more on the Telangana sentiment, fresh with their win in general elections, this time registration of graduates as voters was done aggressively involving all the Ministers and MLAs in their respect ive constituencies.
An average of 8,000 to 9,000 graduates were enrolled this time in each constituency while some were more aggressive like in Medchal constituency where 12,000 graduates were enrolled as voters. Marri Rajashekhar Reddy, incharge of Telangana Rashtra Samithi Malkajgiri Parliamentary constituency says they had a focussed drive and enrolled 12,000 in the constituency in addition to 4,000 voters in the colleges run by his family.
Mr. Reddy says youngsters expressed lot of confidence in IT Minister K.T. Rama Rao for his dynamism and the way Hyderabad has become the destination of big IT players. "Media plays up the perception created against the government but on the ground the Next Gen has strong hopes on KTR," he said. Another factor that the party feels will boost the chances of its candidates is the strong network it had built in the last six years even in the villages.
Based on its massive win in the local body elections in the districts, the party has created strong leadership may it be as Sarpanches, MPTCs, ZPTCs or Councillors in the Municipalities. "We have at least 1,000 leaders in every district at all levels. This is in contrast to 2015 Graduate MLC elections when the lower level leadership was not that strong," said a party strategist.
Party has also changed its campaign style this time reaching out to individual voters. In the 2015 it was more like the general elections.
"This time we realised that individual voters have to be touched."
After KTR made it clear to the MLAs of six districts, which will be part of the Graduate MLC elections, that the onus of victory lies on them there is a surge in campaigning even at the village level. Wall writings and banners could be seen even in remote villages in deep jungles of Medaram in Mulugu district in favour of Telangana Rashtra Samithi candidate Rajeshwar Reddy indicating the seriousness involved.
Adding to this aggression is the financial muscle that the party can stretch is definitely a concern for the opposition parties.
