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Journalism of Courage
The BJP on Sunday was on course to win eight seats and double its vote share from 6.98% in 2018 to almost 14%. But, with the party having been in a position to launch an attempt to win the state till even earlier this year, the Telangana result is one minus point on a day the party won mandates in all three Hindi heartland states.
The party has broken new ground in Adilabad and Nizamabad districts, winning Armur and Nizamabad Urban in Nizamabad and Sirpur, Adilabad, Nirmal, and Mudhole in Adilabad. The party’s two-time Goshamahal MLA T Raja Singh won the third straight time while Katipally Venkata Ramana Reddy won from Kamareddy, defeating both Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao and Congress leader A Revanth Reddy. But the party’s big leaders lost. Among them are former state unit chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar who lost from Karimnagar in a tight contest, Nizamabad MP Dharmapuri Arvind who lost from Korutla (Jagtial district), poll management committee chief Etela Rajender lost from Huzurabad (Karimnagar district), and M Raghunandan Rao lost from Dubbak (Siddipet district).
In 2014, the BJP won five seats: Uppal in Ranga Reddy district, and Musheerabad, Amberpet, Khairatabad, and Goshamahal in Hyderabad district, with a vote share of 4.2 per cent. In 2018, the party was decimated, with only T Raja Singh retaining his constituency while leaders such as Dr K Laxman and G Kishan Reddy bit the dust. Kishan Reddy was subsequently elected from the Secunderabad Lok Sabha seat, Bandi Sanjay Kumar who lost from Karimnagar bagged the Karimnagar parliamentary seat, and D Arvind won Nizamabad.
After the Congress dislodged the BJP in neighbouring Karnataka, the BJP lost steam in Telangana. The replacement of Bandi Sanjay Kumar as BJP chief with G Kishan Reddy also affected the party, according to party insiders.
