Telangana Congress is the worst sufferer of the triangular fight raging on between TRS , TDP and YSRC. Telangana Congress , which is slowly coming under KCR assault , has been anxiously waiting for an occasion to prove that the party is still a force to reckon with despite the series of electoral defeats.
It has been under the impression that Palair is best bet to prove its relevance in post Telangana. If it retains the Palair seat, which fell vacant following the death of party ‘s MLA Ramreddy Venkatareddy, the party would gain tons of energy and can proudly announce that anti-incumbency is on the rise in Telangana. It can interpret the win in any number of ways to keep its flock together. But, a defeat would be disastrous and expected to open floodgates to desertions. The party has about 18 MLAs in Assembly.
With this hope T-Congress successfully brought the TDP and YSRC around the argument that the seat should be left to the family members of Ramreddy Venkata Reddy as he died suddenly and both the opposition parties agreed for the proposal for their own reasons. Triumphant Congress released hilarious campaign posters with portraits of NTR, Chandrababu Naidu, YSR and Jaganmohan Reddy, TDP Telangana preisident Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy etc.
But the strategy suffered a setback when Khammam Congress MLA Puvvada Ajay Kumar defected to TRS in less than 24 hours after the party secured support from Telangana TDP and YSRC. And in less than a week, the strategy received a jolt when Telangana YSRC president Ponguleti decided to switch over to TRS. Ponguleti is the Lok Sabha Member from Khammam and has considerable influence in the Palair constituency, because the Assembly segment is part of the Khammam Lok Sabha constituency.
Palair constituency is not separate from Khammam and is considered the extension of Khammam town. Both Puvvada and Ponguleti have already started campaigning in the election to prove their influence and utility value for KCR in future.
The whole situation appears to be turning in favor of TRS for these reasons : TRS candidate Tummala Nageswar Rao is a minister in the state government ; KT Ramarao is in-charge of the election; TRS has state government behind it; Defections are in its favor. And Congress could not make it a straight contest because Left parties, which also command some influence in the area, entered the fray. Is Palair going Warangal and GHMC way?
