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The latest victory of Congress in the municipal elections of Telangana is a windfall for the Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, as he has not only cemented his place in the party but also with the public. The present results and the earlier ones for the gram panchayat polls have strengthened his grip on the party.
The victory in municipal polls was also a win-win for Revanth Reddy as the Congress candidates were elected chairpersons and Mayors of 87 out of 112 municipalities and municipal corporations when results were declared on Monday evening. The results vindicated his stand that the Congress would win 90 per cent of the bodies, a claim made by him in his pre-election speeches.
In a party known for its high levels of internal democracy and group politics, Revanth will be able to stamp out criticism against his leadership within Congress, especially by this victory, which symbolised mini-Assembly polls, as it covered 116 municipalities and seven corporations across the State.
A lone voice of dissent heard against him after he took over the mantle was from Munugode MLA of Congress Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy, who recently questioned Revanth's challenge to his predecessor K Chandrasekhar Rao that the former would remain in the seat till 2034. But the grudge that Rajgopal Reddy nursed against Revanth was obvious because he was denied a berth in the Cabinet after he was promised one by the Congress.
Revanth Reddy was more recently confidence exemplified as he boasted that he was “all in all” of the Congress government in Telangana. In a media interaction, he also said that he was both ‘king’ and ‘minister’, whether it was in politics or in his personal life. He also said he had no competitors, as he was in competition with himself.
In the face of criticism by the Opposition parties, Revanth retracted his words, saying he meant ‘king’ in his capacity as the Chief Minister and Minister for holding the portfolio of municipal administration.
Such claims by individual Congress leaders were unheard of in the past in the state. The party, with a centrally controlled high command, was never known to have put its leaders on a high pedestal so as to challenge its own pre-eminent position.
However, Revanth Reddy's remarks were unique since the Congress had invited him to join the party when he was in the Telugu Desam Party at a time when it was fading out in Telangana.
The Congress decorated him with the working president post initially and then confirmed him as the state president despite some leaders rueing that an outsider was allowed to upstage them.
The party couldn't care less about such leaders and went ahead making him the Chief Minister after he steered it to victory by dislodging the ten-year-old Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) government in the November 2023 Assembly elections. He has won every election for the Congress since, starting with the Secunderabad Cantonment bye-poll and now the municipal polls, as its face.
The achievements have thus boosted his morale, though they were a combined effort of the party rank and file. His role had a huge influence on the outcome, be it in planning or execution. And this was also undisputed.
Even when the Congress was helmed by the strongman YS Rajasekhara Reddy, the party was never dependent on individual leaders, as it saw many of them come and go in a long history of grooming stalwarts. It was in this background that the party gave Rajasekhara Reddy's son and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy a slip as he nursed an ambition of stepping into his father's shoes after his untimely death. The then Congress government even initiated Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) cases against Jagan, which landed him in jail.
With the full backing of the high command, Revanth Reddy has meticulously thinned the BRS in the political landscape. It was no mean achievement against a party that ruled Telangana for ten years. He has continuously targeted its leadership, particularly its supremo, Chandrasekhar Rao, and won the endorsement of the public, which was reflected in the election results.
Barring the Lok Sabha polls in 2024, which were, as usual, fought at the national level and yet saw the Congress sharing spoils with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Telangana with eight seats apiece, the Congress had an upper hand over its rivals, securing not less than 40 % vote share every time.
Post polls, the Chief Minister also negotiated an understanding with the Communist Party of India (CPI) to share power in the Kothagudem municipal corporation after both parties won 22 divisions each. This was in spite of unconditional support extended to CPI by the BRS in claiming the Mayorship to keep the Congress at bay. The BRS had eight corporators in the newly elected body, which was sufficient to swing the tide in CPI's favour.
Another example of Revanth Reddy's shrewd political skills was his ability to rein in the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM). The AIMIM, which was hostile to the Congress government after the death of Rajasekhara Reddy, has become its friendly party now. This was more obvious in the municipal elections, as the AIMIM extended its support to the Congress in the election of the Mayor in the Nizamabad municipal corporation, though the BJP was the single largest party in the new body.
The Congress also manoeuvred the party's victory in the chairpersonship of several municipalities that returned hung verdicts, but it could not stop the BJP from winning the Mayorship in Karimnagar on numbers. Though the Congress had a clear majority in only 70 of the municipalities and municipal corporations that went to polls, its strength swelled to 86 following the indirect election of chairpersons and Mayors on Monday. The party managed to win support of independents and candidates of other parties where the elected bodies returned hung verdicts. There was also crossvoting in some municipalities. The figure was likely to go up further as the meetings for election of chairpersons was postponed in eleven municipalities for various reasons, including kidnap of candidates, irregularities in enrolment of ex-officio members with voting right and law and order issues.
It was not as if the main opposition party, the Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS), was totally wiped out in the municipal elections though the Congress leaders made such tall claims on election eve. The party won 772 wards and divisions out of the 2,600 odd giving credence to perception that it still enjoyed public support to an extent despite losing consecutive elections. However, it failed to win even a single municipal corporation out of the seven that went to polls. On the other hand, the Congress won five and shared power with the CPI in one more while the BJP secured the last.
By winning the Karimnagar municipal corporation and highest number of divisions in Nizamabad corporation to emerge the single largest party, the BJP has made a mark in elections despite Revanth Reddy’s onslaught that it was a national party that had nothing to do with local body elections. At the same time, the public did not heed to the BRS propaganda that the Congress failed to deliver on its Assembly election promises, particularly hike in social security pensions and gold as gifts to newly wed brides.