BJP is victor in this 'Indo-Pak cricket match'

VV Balakrishna
Express News Service
Last Updated : 22 Mar 2012 11:13:49 AM IST

HYDERABAD: “The bypoll in Mahbubnagar is exciting like Indo-Pak cricket match,” BJP state president G Kishan Reddy said during his election campaigns. And, that’s how the the BJP scored over TRS and won with simple majority in the photo-finish.

The communal division between voters is said to be one of the main reasons for the victory of BJP candidate Yennam Srinivasa Reddy. Telangana sentiment, Srinivasa Reddy’s rapport with TRS cadre (he was with TRS before) and the ‘non-local’ factor of TRS candidate Syed Ibrahim also helped BJP get one Assembly seat in the Mahbubnagar Lok Sabha segment represented by TRS president K Chandrasekhara Rao.

Telangana sentiment was strong, but voters were split on communal lines, which benefited BJP. In a similar fight, BJP candidate Y Lakshminarayana won the 2010 bypolls  from Nizamabad, crushing the then PCC chief D Srinivas.

“The victory in Mahbubnagar means voters have acknowledged BJP as a pro-Telangana force. As a national party, BJP created three new states. BJP alone can deliver Telangana state,” claimed BJP president Kishan Reddy.

It was also true that the BJP was consolidating its position in Telangana. Top BJP leaders LK Advani, Sushma Swaraj and others toured the region extensively and supported separate Telangana state. “Give us seats and take your state” was the slogan of BJP in 2009 elections.

Since then, the BJP put in concerted efforts like Kishan Reddy’s Palle Yatra and recent Telangana Poru Yatra. It also took a bold step advocating division of the state in Andhra and Rayalaseema regions, which fetched support for the party to some extent in the Telangana region.