Leaders were strongly by the side of TRS candidate Gellu Srinivas Yadav but people preferred to be with Eatala Rajender of the BJP.
That puts in perspective the victory of Mr. Rajender in Huzurabad by-poll. TRS supremo and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao ensured that not a single leader of his party in Huzurabad constituency joined Mr. Rajender from the moment the latter resigned as MLA after he was dropped from the Council of Ministers.
As the by-election became inevitable, one or two TRS leaders who directly or indirectly pledged support to Mr. Rajender too were made to come back to TRS by using different methods. Thus Rajender, who was the face of TRS and undisputed leader in Huzurabad, became a lone soldier in the by-poll battle field.
Then every TRS leader having potential to be candidate for the by-poll and to bring votes by virtue of caste, image, power was given some position. Congress nominee in 2018 election was brought to TRS with the promise of MLC post, Banda Srinivas was made SC corporation chairman with Cabinet minister rank, Vakulabharanam Krishnamohan Rao was made BC Commission chairman and the list is endless. “They forgot that Rajender is for Huzurabad what is KCR for entire Telangana. He has personal rapport with thousands of voters from our constituency. His mild manners, affectionate attitude and readiness to offer financial help to the needy made him a messiah,” Venkatesham, a lower rung leader from Jammikunta, says. Many political observers and people of the constituency cite several other reasons for his victory like unfulfilled earlier promises of allowances to unemployed, ₹10 lakh assistance not reaching Dalit Bandhu beneficiaries, distribution of money reaching vulgar levels and choosing a novice like Gellu Srinivas Yadav against seasoned politician Rajender. But the TRS over-reliance on the leaders instead of reaching out to people is the single most factor for its loss, they say. Huzurabad local TRS leader Venkatesham (name changed) notes that party had sent non-locals (associates of Ministers, MLAs, MLCs, MPs) to Huzurabad for poll management. “Crucial financial management too was assigned to them. Though they are our party leaders, they knew nothing about our constituency and messed up everything,” he feels. Moreover, the TRS strategist failed to check rumours that select TRS leaders in each village were ‘becoming rich’ but ‘poor voters are not getting even an iota of that prosperity’.
On the contrary, Mr. Rajender’s poll managers meticulously built a narrative that ‘the people’s man is being targetted for no fault of his and questioning arrogance and attitude of KCR’. Repeated efforts by TRS leaders to brand him as land-grabber and back-stabber boomeranged when he questioned why there was no action against some Ministers accused of graft.
In their foolproof plan of deploying ‘one person to take care of 10 voters’, TRS leaders failed to notice that Rajender penetrated people’s heart deeper with his ‘kind-hearted image’.
“The fact that he got majority in the own villages of some Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) leaders, including its nominee, in the constituency explains this,” they say.
