Hyderabad: Though he patted party leaders and ministers for the stupendous victory in the MLC elections in Khammam and Ranga Reddy districts TRS chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao was reportedly upset with the performance of leaders in Nalgonda and Mahbubnagar districts where two of the party’s three candidates were defeated.
Sources said there were instructions to allot the first and second preference votes equally to the two candidates in Mahbubnagar — Jagdeeshwar Reddy and Kasireddy Narayana Reddy. The poll managers were also told to manage voters from other parties to give their second and third preference votes to the TRS nominees. But the strategy failed.
Mr Narayana Reddy, using his clout, managed more first preference votes than allotted and got elected. There was a major difference between the votes secured by Mr Narayana Reddy and Mr Jagdeeshwar Reddy. The two ministers, C. Laxma Reddy and Jupally Krishna Rao, along with other leaders, failed to mobilise second and third preference votes from other parties.
Though there has been talk in Nalgonda that it would be difficult to defeat the Congress nominee since he has been ‘managing’ voters since January 2015, there was an assurance from energy minister G. Jagdeeshwar Reddy that he had persuaded the voters to opt for TRS. He assured the CM that TRS nominee Tera Chinnapa Reddy would win hands down.
The minister claimed a majority of the voters were with him in a camp and the TRS nominee would win by at least 100 votes. But Congress nominee Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy won by 193 first preferential votes.
The CM greeted the minister from Ranga Reddy district P. Mahender Reddy who followed the strategy and ensured the TRS victory in both seats. On its own, the TRS did not have the numbers in the district to win even one seat.
The CM complimented R&B minister Tummala Nageswara Rao for ensuring victory for the Khammam MLC seat from an electorate that was dominated by Opposition parties. Technically, the TRS has only three MPTCs but was able to win the seat comfortably.
