Welfare pitch helps Congress win its second southern state

Congress insiders were quick to point out that a similar success against regional parties in other parts of the country would be difficult

The Congress on Sunday scripted a rare turnaround story in Telangana as it comprehensively trounced the Bharat Rashtra Samithi in results that came as a salve for the party that was bruised by routs in three of India’s key heartland states.

Telangana Congress chief A Revanth Reddy with party workers in Hyderabad. (PTI)

The party won 65 of the 119 seats in the southern state –a rare feat for a party that had not been able to defeat a regional powerhouse in any key state, barring the Northeast, since the turn of the millennium.

The party’s resounding success in Telangana – it had won just 21 seats five years ago – was built on the back of a rooted and energetic campaign that took a leaf out of the Congress’s Karnataka strategy, focused on welfare outreach, pinned the BRS on corruption allegations, and projected a strong local leadership.

“I thank the people of Telangana for the mandate we have received from them,” Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge said on X.

Congress insiders were quick to point out that a similar success against regional parties in other parts of the country would be difficult. “Many of them are our allies. And in states like Odisha (ruled by the Biju Janata Dal), our party is a distant third,” a Congress functionary said, requesting anonymity.

“The Telangana win is very important as the party. The Congress campaign was meticulous. But I strongly feel that this is more like an anti-BRS vote than a pro-Congress mandate,” Sudhakar Gaud, a political analyst based in Hyderabad, said. “In the next five years, the Congress has to work very hard to respect this mandate.”

Though the Congress has gained power in two south Indian states, Karnataka and Telangana, the journey of resurgence in the latter was not an easy one.

The Congress was a dominant force in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, especially under chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy, who died in 2009. In turmoil after his death, the party decided to carve out Telangana from Andhra Pradesh just months ahead of the 2014 general elections, but couldn’t generate any momentum in either Telugu-speaking state.

“In Andhra Pradesh, the Congress was the villain. In Telangana, K Chandrasekar Rao was the hero,” Ramavath Ramalu, a Congress worker in Hyderabad, said. He narrated how, for nearly three years between 2015 and 2018, the Congress had no significant or large public rally in Telangana as KCR rode high on the Telangana sentiment.

The appointment of A Revanth Reddy, a firebrand leader from the financially and socially dominant Reddy community, as the party’s state unit chief in 2021 was the first sign of an impending turn of fortunes. Reddy inspired local leaders, activated the dormant units at the district level, and matched KCR’s fire word by word.

It was evident in the run-up to the November 30 assembly elections. While KCR tried to whip up the tried-and-tested statehood sentiment to overcome anti-incumbency against his party, Reddy also invoked the issue to counter the chief minister.

“Telangana statehood would not have been a reality, had Sonia Gandhi not taken the decision, risking the political future of the party in both the Telugu states. The only way to show gratitude towards her is to vote the Congress to power,” Reddy had said at a poll campaign rally in Boath on November 15.

In the previous state elections, the Congress had made the fatal mistake of joining hands with the N Chandrababu Naidu-led Telugu Desam Party (TDP). KCR used it to his advantage back then, posing questions to the people during campaign: “Do you want to vote for Telangana or Andhra Pradesh?” In the newly created state, that sounded the death knell for the party’s campaign.

This time around, buoyed by a massive victory in another South Indian state, the Congress focused on a Karnataka-style welfare package, announcing several guarantees to the people. KCR, who had rolled out flagship schemes during his nine-year tenure at the helm of the state, had faltered in implementing them in the last two years, creating a divide.

“In his first term, KCR brought several innovative programmes such as the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project. He was the first CM to announce input subsidy (Rythu Bandhu). He provided them insurance, gave loan waivers. But in the second term, the implementation of these schemes has become an issue. It created a new set of haves and have-nots. Those who got the money and those who didn’t,” Ghanta Chakrapani, director of the BR Ambedkar Open University and former Telangana public service commission chief, said.

Banuchander Nagarajan, another political analyst, pointed out that while the welfare pitch worked for the Congress in the South, it failed in the North.

“The Congress’ welfare pitch helped it defeat KCR. But it failed against the BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party] because the BJP outsmarted the Congress in social engineering, campaign and other aspects of the polls,” Nagarjan said.

But can the win help the Congress best other regional parties? It might be too difficult, said a Congress strategist.

“Firstly, in a number of states, the Congress has relegated itself as a marginal force vis-à-vis the strong local party. In Bihar or West Bengal, we are a marginal force. Secondly, we are committed to an alliance with regional parties in the INDIA grouping. As far as parties such as the YSR Congress Party, BJD or some of the northeastern outfits are concerned, we have lost crucial ground and it will perhaps take years of hard work,” he added, requesting anonymity.