The din and dust besides the stench of the verbal diarrhea raised during the three-week long electioneering, considered as one of the most bitter and fiercest fought in a poll battle, settled down with the curtains drawn on the campaign in Telangana today.
Polling will take place for 17 Lok Sabha and 119 Assembly constituencies in Telangana, the 29th state in the country to come into being officially on June 2, will take place on April 30. As many as 267 candidates are in the fray trying their luck to enter the Lok Sabha, while 1682 candidates are in the run for the Assembly seats.
All the major political parties — Congress, TDP, TRS, BJP, YSRCP, CPI, CPM, MIM and Lok Satta – are vying with each other for political supremacy besides AAP making its electoral debut along with a host of other Independents. While the TRS and the MIM are fighting the battle on their own, the Congress entered into an alliance with the CPI, the TDP with BJP and the YSRCP with CPM.
It is also pertinent to note here that the division of the state, which was stoutly opposed in the Seemandhra region, led to the formation of a new political outfit floated by none other than former Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy to cash in on the sentiments of the people for a united state. The party, Jai Samaikyandhra Party, like the AAP entered the poll fray. Even Union Minister and Congress Campaign in charge in the region K. Chiranjeevi’s brother Pawan Kalyan also formed a political party on the eve of the election. Though the party decided to stay out of the fray to avoid splitting of votes, Pawan Kalyan and his party members campaigned for the BJP-TDP alliance.
This election has assumed great importance and attained nation-wide attention as the Congress party is determined and going all out to re-establish its political supremacy by capturing power in the two new states of Telangana and Seemandhra, which as an undivided state, was its bastion since 2004. Moreover there is no denial of the fact that Telangana state was carved out by the Congress with an eye on the elections to win as many Lok Sabha seats as possible with the support of the TRS. .
However, with the TRS going back on its promise and commitment to merge with the Congress after the formation of Telangana state, the Congress has been left in a quandary at a time when it was hoping high to make Rahul Gandhi as the next Prime Minister of the country. Thus the first phase of the elections in Telangana has become more crucial and prestigious for the Congress as what with an expected ally like TRS becoming its foe and trying to dislodge it.
Treating it as a do or die battle for political survival, the Congress left no stone unturned to woo the electorate. All the top guns of the party including Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, all the union ministers and senior party functionaries jumped into electioneering all over Telangana.
While Sonia Gandhi addressed four election rallies in two spells, Rahul Gandhi too addressed meetings in two spells in a number of constituencies in four districts. Not to lag behind, the BJP too in a bid to outwit the Congress entered into an alliance with the TDP and even succeeded in securing the services of actor-politician Pawan Kalyan.
All the political parties and their candidates used every known gimmick to garner votes.
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