Victory of The TRS Has Many Reasons: Analysts

The performance of the TRS in the just-concluded Telangana Assembly elections, where the party secured a two-thirds majority and decimated the opposition, drew mixed responses from the political parties.

The TRS won 88 of the 119 Assembly seats, and the opposition parties fared miserably with the Praja Kutami winning just 21 (the Congress won 19 seats and the TDP two), and the BJP one. The TRS vote share increased to 46.9% from the 34.3% in the previous elections.

The leaders of most of the opposition parties have declared that they would accept and respect the Telangana people's verdict. TDP supremo and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu said that the TDP would respect the people's judgment in favour of the TRS, and congratulated the TRS chief. TJS chief Kodandaram, whose party failed to win even a single seat, also said that the peoples' verdict should be respected. BJP state president Dr K Laxman and former union minister Bandaru Dattatreya, whose party suffered a major setback and won only one seat as against the five that it held in the dissolved Assembly, also said that they would respect the outcome, though the party (and the CPI) opined that it was the people's fear that a victory for the Congress would give Naidu control over Telangana again that made them vote en masse for the TRS rather than any love for the TRS.

Even the defeated Congress leaders including K Jana Reddy and A Revanth Reddy have accepted the poll outcome. However, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president N Uttam Kumar Reddy had alleged that the EC was in collusion with the caretaker TRS government, and that the EVMs were tampered with in favour of the TRS.

Political analysts opine that the TPCC president had failed to acknowledge the factors that resulted in a massive victory for the TRS in the state. They cite a few schemes and programs which could have catapulted the TRS to victory, including:

1. Rythu Bandhu, Rythu Bheema and loan waiver schemes which benefited nearly one crore farmers in the state
2. Provision of tractors and other farm machinery to farmers on subsidy
3. The Kalyana Lakshmi and Shaadi Mubarak schemes, which benefited lakhs of women in the state
4. Pensions to nearly 40 lakh families
5. The KCR Kits program, which benefited lakhs of women and led them to opt for government hospitals for deliveries
6. The SC, ST, minorities' and Gurukul schools which have benefited lakhs of school-going children
7. The KG-to-PG free education scheme, which is being implemented in a phased manner
8. Reduction in Property Tax from Rs 1,200 to Rs 101, which benefited lakhs of low-income families
9. Giving of autos to the poor on subsidy and doing away with the auto rickshaw license fee
10. Filling up of over 32,000 vacancies, and the issue of notifications for the remaining 87,000
11. Increase in the salaries of many categories of employees including the home guards, Anganwadi workers and helpers, and regularization of the services of a large number of employees
12. A considerable improvement in the sanitary and working conditions of the government hospitals at different levels, and introduction of super-specialty services in the district hospitals
13. The Rs 5 a meal scheme for the needy and the poor
14. Mission Kakatiya which helped many farmers by bringing new areas under irrigation
15. Mission Bhagiratha which provided drinking water to many households
16. Kanti Velugu and several other such programs which benefited the people in general and the poorer sections in particular

Analysts also said that the vigorous campaign launched by KCR against the failures of the Congress, the TDP and the BJP over the last 58 years, and the fears that cropped up in the minds of the people about the TDP being a key constituent of the Praja Kutami could also have prompted the people to vote for the TRS.