Despite BJP’s impressive gains, star leaders Eatala, Bandi Sanjay lose elections

Telangana: The BJP party recorded an impressive increase in its MLA candidates in the Telangana Election Results 2023; from one MLA in 2018 to nine elected public representatives five years later. The count not just increases the party’s MLAs in the State Assembly but also the saffron party’s vote bank in the state. However, what is more glaring is that four of its star MLAs and former parliamentarians lost.

Eatala Rajender

Prominent leader and 6-time MLA Eatala Rajender lost to BRS MLC Padi Kaushik Reddy in Huzurabad, turning Reddy into a giant killer. While several reasons are being cited for the loss, it is pertinent to note that Eatala contested from Huzurabad and Gajwel constituencies and lost both. With this, he is stripped of his MLA tag.

Arvind Dharmapuri

In Korutla, parliamentarian Arvind Dharmapuri lost to BRS Dr Kalvakuntla Sanjay Rao. This election was Arvind Dharmapuri’s first attempt to contest in the MLA elections and so was the case with Rao. It can be said that Arvind ate into the votes of Congress candidate Narsing Rao, delivering the win for Dr Sanjay.

Bandi Sanjay

Karimnagar MP Bandi Sanjay lost to his rival BRS MLA and minister Gangula Kamalakar by a slim margin. The two took turns and were in the lead throughout the day, and at one point trends indicated that Bandi Sanjay would win the seat. However, towards the end, Gangula Kamalakar took over and won the seat.

Raghunandan Rao

Another star BJP leader who lost was lawyer Raghunandan Rao from Dubbaka; the man who won with a dumping majority in the by-election earlier, now lost to Medak MP Kotha Prabhakar Reddy.

BJP Katipally Venkat Ramana Reddy’s surprise

Katipally Venkat Ramana Reddy turned out to be the star of the day after he defeated chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao and TPCC president Revanth Reddy in Kamareddy. The man is being hailed across the country for putting up a fight against two giant political leaders.

Going by the results announced on December 3, BJP’s Alleti Maheshwar Reddy won by a margin of over 50,000 votes at Nirmal and the party’s Rama Rao Patel won by a margin of over 23,000 votes at Mudhole.

The PM had addressed a public meeting at Nirmal district headquarters covering Nirmal and Mudhole constituency, while Adityanath addressed a public meeting at Kagaznagar, the main town in Sirpur constituency, and Shinde conducted a road show in Adilabad town and addressed a meeting in Bela mandal headquarters, part of Adilabad constituency.

In the case of Payal Shankar, the BJP candidate in the Adilabad constituency, the impact of Shinde’s speech in Marathi was visible in the shift in voter behaviour. Jainad and Bela mandals, the strongholds of the BRS, gave leads to the BJP candidate after the VIP visit due to the strong Marathi-speaking voter base which gave their support to the BJP.

In Sirpur too, Adityanath’s appeal to BC voters to align themselves with the BJP also seems to have worked. Here, the BJP candidate Palvai Harish Babu turned out a winner against the odds.