Going by the reactions of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders in Telangana, especially during the polling day at Huzurabad, they seem to have lost the battle even before it was fought! Things seem to have drastically changed in the Huzurabad assembly constituency which is under by-election just 48 hours before the polling day!
It was clear the major battle for the assembly seat was between ruling Telangana Rastra Samiti (TRS) candidate Gellu Srinivas Yadav and BJP’s Etela Rajender. Though Congress did bring in some kind of momentum to the by-elections, it is not likely to be the top contender against TRS. Etela, who was the health minister in TRS government, was alleged of corruption and misappropriation of funds.
Later he quit TRS and joined BJP. He is now contesting Huzurabad under BJP ticket.
Though Eatala garnered great support from people all through his campaign, it seems he is likely to win the seat. His padayatra across the constituency, his road shows during the election campaign, his door-to-door campaign were all received very well by people. Going by this response, everyone were under the impression that Huzurabad might turn into yet another Dubbaka for TRS!
But looks like T Harish Rao, TRS president and Chief Minister of Telangana K Chandrasekhar Rao’s nephew, seems to have learnt his lessons from Dubbaka and has changed the fortunes of his party to bigger success. Despite social media claims and many videos going viral which showed people distributing money, the Election Commission of India (ECI) did not take action.
It is being said that TRS has spent crores on buying out the voters and this was the reason there is already disappointment written on the face of BJP, said senior leader from BJP. Etela statements on the elections itself sum the outcome that will come on November 2. He said, “Blatant use of government machinery for the cause of TRS and free flow of money as well as liquor will definitely have a huge impact on all the candidates. It is unfortunately the police and government machinery is working in favour of the ruling party. Hopefully the people of Huzurabad will not fall prey to these things and will vote for BJP.”