The voters of Greater Hyderabad dealt a shocking blow to the Congress, which was expecting to win at least 65-70 seats in the GHMC elections.
But it ended up falling short of at least 15 seats, though it is still the single largest political party in the GHMC polls and has the chances of ruling the GHMC with the support of the Majlis-e-Itthadul Muslimeen, unless the political equations change.
What could have gone wrong with the Congress, which returned to power in the state strongly in the general elections in April? The party, in fact, swept the assembly elections in Greater Hyderabad area. Out of 24 assembly constituencies under the GHMC limits, the Congress had won 14 seats in the recent elections, followed by MIM 7 and one seat each by the TDP, BJP and Lok Satta.
In the GHMC elections, the Congress put up candidates in all the 150 divisions, but won only 52, whereas the TDP contested in 141 seats and won 45. In a way, the performance of the Congress and the TDP is more or less similar.
Many reasons can be attributed to the poor show by the Congress party in the GHMC polls, compared to the general elections. One reason is obviously the absence of former Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, who was the only charismatic leader for the Congress. He could have made a sea of difference for the prospects of the party in the GHMC polls. In his absence, the people might have thought TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu could be the better choice, as he had done considerable development in Hyderabad. Especially, the TDP displayed tremendous performance in the sub-urban divisions, where there was a good polling percentage and the people were looking for a better alternative.
Secondly, there was a lot of hera pheri in the distribution of tickets in the Congress, that is also due to absence of YSR. There was absolutely no coordination among the PCC, the GHCC and the local MLAs. There were allegations of sale of tickets on a large scale; while the MLAs did not allow a second-rung leadership to grow in their areas so as to prevent threat to them in future. They managed to secure tickets only to their chelas. As a result, the Congress had to face a large number of rebel candidates. And they ruined the chances of the official candidates.
And there is also a feeling among the Congress leaders that YSR’s son Jaganmohan Reddy should have been roped into campaign well in advance. The overconfidence of the Congress leaders and reluctance of Jagan also had its impact on the Congress chances.
