Telangana Rashtra Samithi had to virtually sweat it out to win the Parkal assembly seat, the lone seat in the Telangana region that went to by-polls along with 17 other assembly seats and Nellore Lok Sabha seat.

In a battle that reminded the cliff-hanger 20-20 cricket match, TRS candidate M Bhikshpathi managed to win the Parkal seat with a slender margin of 1500 votes over YSR Congress party candidate and former minister Konda Surekha. Bhikshapathi, who was sailing comfortably with nearly 6,000 votes’ majority till the 12th round, witnessed a sudden fall in his fortunes from the 13th round. And the majority began dwindling drastically, causing an alarm in the Telangana activists.

In fact after the end of 16th round, Surekha managed to secure a lead of 151 votes. However, the last three rounds, the fortunes made a swing towards the TRS and at the end of 19th round, Bhikshpathi managed to scrape through with a slender majority.

In fact, Surekha was confident that she would come out safely, as three rounds belonged to Geesugonda mandal, her native, where she has complete authority. It was here that Vijayamma had a grand show on June 8. As expected, she polled huge votes in this part. However, the last couple of rounds belonged to Sangem mandal, where the Telangana sentiment is too high. And that came to the rescue of the TRS.

In any case, it is a setback for the TRS leadership, as it failed to project YSR Congress party as an anti-Telangana force.

“The TRS should not have allowed Vijayamma’s rally in Parkal. And that made all the difference in the majority,” an analyst said.