HYDERABAD: In a major blow to BJP’s grand plans for 2023-Assembly elections in Telangana, the saffron party failed to win at least one of the two graduate MLC seats, the results of which were announced on Saturday.
After a stunning victory over the ruling TRS in Dubbak by-poll just four months back followed by its emergence as a major political force in GHMC elections in December, BJP has failed to keep the momentum going.
What hurt the saffron party most is the fact that it failed to retain its Hyderabad-Ranga Reddy-Mahbubnagar constituency, a seat won by its candidate N Ramchander Rao in 2015. Though Rao gave a tough fight to S Vani Devi of the TRS, he lost out to her in the counting of second preference votes.
As if this was not enough, its candidate Premender Reddy finished a poor fourth and was eliminated in the counting of second preference vote in Nalgonda-Warangal-Khammam constituency.
He managed to poll less than 50,000 first preference votes. An independent candidate Teenmar Mallanna polled nearly a lakh votes and Telangana Jana Samithi president M Kodadaram got over 89,000 votes in this constituency taking the second and third positions respectively with Palla Rajeshwar Reddy of the ruling TRS retaining the seat for second-term.