The general mood in the Telangana Rashtra Samithi after Friday’s polling is upbeat for the simple reason that the voter turnout has gone up in many rural constituencies and the party feels it is a positive vote. The party has also got a booster dose with a majority of exit polls predicting its return to power.
Although the exit poll may keep the mood among the party ranks high, the party leadership has instituted an exercise to estimate the performance of its contestants and it has given a clear picture in party's favour, a senior leader of TRS known to be very close to the party leadership told The Hindu on Saturday.
Internal estimate
The party's internal estimate, according to the source, is that it could surpass its 2014 tally comfortably and would secure at least 10 to 15 seats more.
“There's a jubilant mood in the party for the simple reason that the turnout of women and aged persons has gone up this time. We firmly believe that the higher turnout of these two sections is a positive vote resulting from the schemes such as social security pensions, Rythu Bandhu, Rythu Bima, Kalyana Lakshmi, drinking water and others. Had it been a negative vote, the turnout of younger lot such as unemployed youth would have been higher,” he pointed out explaining the reasons behind the party's confidence.
Asked about the extent of anti-incumbency faced by the party, the senior party leader said it would be there against every dispensation irrespective of its scale of performance. However, in their (TRS) case it is negligible or rather not in the measure to favour a change, particularly in rural areas.
“What wrong did the government do it incur the wrath of people to fall out of their favour,” he asked adding that there is a silent wave in favour of the party, particularly among women and farming community. “There has been a general sense that let's give one more chance to this working (performing) dispensation,” he suggested.
The party source, however, admitted that there was a strong feeling, particularly among the progressive and Left thinkers that there was no space for democratic rights and voices in the State. They could be right to some extent but there was no strong antagonism against the government among any particular section, he felt.
