Hyderabad: The Kukatpally story has repeated in Huzurnagar for the Telugu Desam. In a constituency that has a strong presence of ‘settler’ voters of Andhra Pradesh origin and those of the Kamma community, its traditional supporters, the party still managed to lose the byelection.
It was a throwback to the 2018 Assembly elections in the state. The Telugu Desam contested 17 seats in alliance with the Congress but could win two.
The TD leadership thought that the Kukatpally Assembly constituency was an open and shut case. This constituency is dominated by ‘settlers’ and Kamma community voters. To make victory certain, the party fielded N. Suhasini, granddaughter of the late N.T. Rama Rao.
TD president N. Chandrababu Naidu and actor Balakrishna too carried out a strident campaign in the constituency but to no avail. The constituency went with Mr Madhavaram Krishna Rao of the TRS in the December 2017 elections.
The impact of the defeat in the Assembly elections was such that the Telugu Desam in an unprecedented manner did not contest the Lok Sabha elections in Telangana state.
This was the first time that the party had sat out an election after it was founded by NTR.
Then, in a surprise move, the TD leadership decided to contest the Huzurnagar byelection. It appeared to be eyeing the votes of 50,000 ‘settlers’ of AP origin and 11,000 voters of the Kamma community who stay in the Huzurnagar constituency. The party even fielded Chava Kirnanmayi who belongs to the Kamma community in a bid to cash in on old loyalties.
The idea was that the party will receive a substantial number of votes from these two groups, from which it can build itself. That was not to be. The voters it was wooing overwhelmingly rejected the party. Ms Kiranmayi could get just 1,827 votes and lost her deposit.
From an expected revival, the Huzurnagar byelection may well bring down the curtains for the TD as a serious contender in the state. Telangana TD leaders are of the opinion that it will not possible to restore the party to its lost glory in the state.
Ironically, the TD was stronger in the Telangana region of undivided AP than it was in the erstwhile Seemandhra. The BC voters were its backbone in the Telangana region.
After bifurcation, the TD leadership concentrated on AP and neglected the TS unit.
TD leaders in Telangana state started migrating to other political parties which greatly weakened the party.
After the dust of the Huzurnagar byelection had settled, someone commented that in 1982 NTR had launched the Telugu Desam in Telangana, and it was disappearing in the state after 35 years.
