BJP deals body blow by taking Dubbak seat from right under TRS’ nose

TRS was so confident of victory in Dubbak that chief minister KCR did not address even a single public meeting and entrusted the task of securing victory to his nephew and state finance minister T Harish Rao.

In a major upset to the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi in Telangana, Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday recorded a victory in the by-elections to Dubbak assembly constituency in Siddipet district, albeit with a slender margin of 1,470 votes.

BJP supporters celebrate party’s win in Dubbak Assembly by-polls in Siddhipet on Tuesday. (ANI Photo)

BJP candidate M Raghunandan Rao secured 62,772 votes as against 61,302 votes polled by TRS candidate Solipeta Sujatha, widow of former MLA S Ramalinga Reddy, whose death necessitated the by-elections.

Congress candidate Cheruku Srinivas Reddy, son of former Dubbak MLA Ch Mutyam Reddy, finished a poor third with 21,819 votes. With this victory, the strength of the BJP in the state assembly goes up to two - Rao will join T Raja Singh of Hyderabad in the House.

For the TRS, which has twice formed the government in Telangana and had never lost a by-election in the last six years, it was certainly a humiliating defeat. The party, which had won the Dubbak seat with a massive margin of 62,500 votes in December 2018 elections, was a bit over-confident of retaining the seat with increased victory margin.

Such was the confidence of TRS president and chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao that he had fielded deceased MLA’s widow Sujatha in the by-elections despite her being a political novice with no public image and poor communication skills.

What was even worse, KCR did not address even a single public meeting and entrusted the task of securing victory to his nephew and state finance minister T Harish Rao, who single-handedly led the party campaign.

On the other hand, the BJP, which has been making all out efforts to emerge as the potential alternative to the TRS in the state ever since it won four Lok Sabha seats in April 2019 general elections, pulled out all stops to wrest the Dubbak seat.

It was a formidable challenge for the saffron party, as Dubbak is tucked between two important assembly constituencies – Gajwel, represented by the chief minister himself and Siddipet, represented by Harish Rao. Even Siricilla, represented by KCR’s son K T Rama Rao is not very far.

So, naturally, it was a matter of prestige for the TRS to win Dubbak seat. However, BJP candidate Raghunandan Rao turned the geographical location of Dubbak to his advantage, telling people how the constituency remained under-developed, while the adjacent constituencies represented by KCR’s family members flourished.

The BJP also cashed in on the resentment among the people of several villages of Dubbak which are going to be submerged under Mallannasagar reservoir as part of Kaleshwaram project on Godavari river. Lack of employment opportunities for the youth and the purported failure of the TRS government in handling the coronavirus pandemic, were also among the factors that hurt the TRS.

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The outcome of the by-elections to Dubbak is unlikely to have any impact on the TRS strength in the assembly since it already has more than 100 out of 119 seats in the state assembly. But the defeat will certainly hit the morale of the party which has been carrying the image of being invincible.

“Though the state assembly elections are still three more years away, the Dubbak result will definitely have a cascading effect on the party’s prospects in the forthcoming elections to Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, in which the BJP will go all out to upset the applecart of TRS-MIM combine,” political analyst Suresh Dharur said.

“And it will also give an opportunity to the BJP to not only replace the Congress as the principal Opposition party but also become a serious challenger to the ruling party,” Dharur added.

TRS working president K T Rama Rao said his party would respect the people’s verdict and do a thorough introspection of what had gone wrong in Dubbak. “We don’t get jubilant with victories nor do we get upset with defeats. But definitely, the Dubbak result is a wake-up call to the party leaders and cadre,” he said.

There were celebrations by BJP cadres all over the state. “We dedicate this victory to the soul of the party worker who died by suicide by immolating himself at the party headquarters in Hyderabad ahead of polling on November 3,” BJP state president Bandi Sanjay said.

BJP candidate Raghunandan Rao thanked the voters of Dubbak and said they had displayed tremendous maturity in rejecting the ruling party.