Hyderabad: In a stark display of anti-incumbency sentiment among Telangana voters, six ministers from the outgoing BRS cabinet lost elections with substantial margins to Congress and BJP candidates.
Eight other ministers who were also in the fray managed to retain their seats, with Health Minister Harish Rao winning Siddipet with a huge margin of more than 82000 votes. Other winning ministers include Sabita Indra Reddy (Maheswaram), Talasani Srinivas Yadav, Vemula Prashanth Reddy, Ch Malla Reddy, KT Rama Rao, Gangula Kamalakar, and the party chief K Chandrashekar Rao.
KCR, however, lost from Kamareddy but retained Gajwel.
Minister of endowments Allola Indrakaran Reddy, who contested from Nirmal, lost to BJP’s Alleti Maheshwar Reddy by a margin of 50,703 votes. The latter got 106400 votes.
Minister of Agriculture and co-operation Singireddy Niranjan Reddy contested from Wanaparthy and lost the seat to Congress candidate Megha Reddy Tudi by a margin of 25320 votes. The winner got 107115 votes.
Minister of Transport Puvvada Ajay Kumar contested from Khammam and lost to Congress candidate Tummala Nageswara Rao by a margin of over 37000 votes. Nageshwarara Rao got 39092 votes.
Seven-time MLA and minister of rural development and rural water supply Errabelli Dayakar Rao, who had contested from Palakurthi constituency of Warangal district, lost to Congress candidate Yashaswini Mamidala by a deficit of 47634 votes. The Congress candidate got 126848 votes. Dayakar Rao’s brother, Errabelli Pradeep Rao, who also contested from Warangal district on BJP mandate, also lost by a margin of more than 15,652 votes.
Minister of scheduled castes, backward class and minorities welfare Koppula Eshwar, who was in the fray from SC-reserved Dharmapuri constituency, lost to Congress’ Adluri Laxman Kuman by a margin of more than 22,000 votes. Koppulla got 69354 votes, while Laxman secured 91393 votes.
Minister of prohibition and excise, V Srinivas Goud, lost Mahabubnagar’s seat to Congress leader Yennam Srinivas Reddy by a margin of 18738 votes. Goud came second with 68489 votes.
The electorate’s rejection of the incumbent government reflected their dissatisfaction with its performance and desire for change. The Congress and BJP, who capitalized on this anti-incumbency wave, are now poised to form the next government in Telangana.
