The Congress stormed to power in Telangana winning 64 seats in the 119-member state Assembly. The ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) — which has been in power for the last ten years — has managed to get just 39 seats much to the shock of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao popularly known as KCR. The failure of BRS leadership to see the undercurrent of anti-incumbency and renomination of almost all the sitting MLAs appear to have cost the party dearly as it lost power to Congress after ruling India’s youngest state for nearly a decade. The defeat has come as a big shock for BRS, a party which led the movement for Telangana state, achieved statehood, and claimed to have put Telangana on the path of progress and prosperity.
The refusal of the party leadership to accept the pre-poll surveys and even the exit polls also indicate that it was over confident about its prospects. Since the party had 104 sitting members in 119-member Assembly, its leadership apparently became complacent and started believing that even if the party loses 40 seats due to perceived anti-incumbency, it will still retain the power. Voter fatigue and resentment in certain sections of people, especially among unemployed youth led to the BRS missing the hat-trick. The public perception about BRS leadership being arrogant and the allegations of corruption were also the other factors responsible for the party losing badly.
The anger among unemployed youth over the leakage of question papers of Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) exams with involvement of a section of its own employees, the problems faced by job aspirants due to repeated postponement and even cancellation of exams and some alleged suicides by youth turned a major section of unemployed youth against the government. The opposition Congress and BJP targeted the government on this issue during the campaigning and promised to fill vacancies. Going a step ahead, Congress wooed the youth with a job calendar, giving dates of conducting the recruitment exams and announcement of results.
Some people also started believing that there was a tacit understanding between BJP and BRS. This view gained ground as the BJP government at the Centre was seen going soft on KCR’s daughter K Kavitha in the alleged Delhi liquor scam. The leaders of the saffron party had earlier created hype that she will be arrested. Many critics questioned the silence of KCR on BJP while a few months ago he was going all out on the saffron party. Moreover, the general anti-incumbency has proved costly for BRS. The Congress party with an intensive social media campaign also spun a narrative against the top BRS leadership. The Congress called for putting an end to the ‘10 years of arrogance’. The narrative resonated well with the people.
