Ever since its formation, the Karimnagar municipality had emerged as a bastion of the Congress, which continued its sway in all the elections till its upgradation into a municipal corporation by winning the first Mayoral poll.
After the formation of Telangana State, Congress had lost its sheen in the municipal elections in Karimnagar. In the 2014 elections, it was confined to only 13 municipal divisions against a total of 50 losing power to the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS). Later, all its corporators, barring two, had shifted their loyalties to the TRS.
Leadership failure
The resignation of Town president Karra Rajashekhar and DCC president K. Mruthyunjayam along with party corporators had come as a rude shock to the Congress, especially on the eve of the municipal elections. At this juncture, TPCC working president Ponnam Prabhakar took charge and tried hard to field candidates from at least 53 divisions against a total of 60.
However, the party had received a severe blow as it had been completely wiped out of the municipal corporation, as not a single corporator had won from any division in the town.
To exacerbate, most of the Congress candidates from various divisions polled single digit votes. To top it, the party’s Mayor candidate Pyata Ramesh had lost the deposit.
Worse than Independents
The party was hopeful of at least securing double digit results. But it had lost even its two sitting corporators and failed to open an account in any part of the town. Its candidates’ performance was so bad that they secured lesser votes than the Independents.
Non-availability of strong district leadership and inability to cash in on the anti-incumbency factor of the TRS government had proved costly for the party in the elections, said a senior Congress leader. “The party had literally failed on the campaigning front as it was a low-key affair, and it had not highlighted the failures of the TRS regime in the municipal corporation,” he stated.
He also said that bifurcation of integrated Karimnagar into seven districts too had an impact on the party leadership with the segregation of senior leaders. “The formation of new districts had affected the unity of the Congress,” he complained.
