ANANTAPUR: Even though it wanted Andhra Pradesh bifurcated, the TRS put up a reasonable showing in Rayalaseema and coastal parts of the united state when it contested there in the 2004 Lok Sabha polls.
The Congress had contested in alliance with the TRS in that election with a view on the seats in the Telangana region. That is when the TRS decided to field candidates in several segments of Seemandhra.
The general elections and state Assembly polls were held simultaneously in 2014 and the TD-BJP combine was routed. The BJP could not win a single seat. The result was a landslide victory for the United Progressive Alliance which won 34 out of Lok Sabha 42 seats and won the state election as well.
One example of the upset the TRS caused in the Seemandhra region was in the Hindupur Lok Sabha constituency The Congress fielded G. Nizamuddin and the Telugu Desam had nominated sitting MP B.K. Parthasarathi. The TRS put up B. Surendra Kumar, who was from the Telangana region. Mr Nizamuddin got 4,19,744 votes, Mr Parthasarathi got 4,17,904. The margin separating them was 1,840 votes. The TRS candidate got 16,907 votes, or 1.95 per cent of the ballot, and could have made the difference between victory and defeat for the TD.
Analysts said the voters might have got confused with the TD’ bicycle symbol and the car of the TRS on the EVMs. “TRS had fielded candidates to get enough votes to recognition and not for winning elections. But the party candidate impacted the Hindupur verdict,” an observer recalled.
TRS candidates, given the stand of their party, did well elsewhere in Seemandhra too. Mr Ashok Rao got 11,247 votes in Rajampeta Lok Sabha seat and Mr K. Eeswar Rao 16,508 votes in Tirupati in Rayalaseema.
