In a setback to the ruling Congress and a major boost to the BJP, two out of three MLC seats, including the prestigious Karimnagar-Medak-Nizamabad-Adilabad Graduates constituency, went to the Saffron party. Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the winners and expressed gratitude to the people of the state for blessing the BJP.

The twin victories are a testament to the party’s growing influence in North Telangana. While Malka Komuraiah of the BJP was declared the winner of the Teachers’ MLC constituency earlier, Chinnamile Anji Reddy’s victory was announced late last night after counting the second preference vote.

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Prime Minister Modi wrote on his ‘X’ handle, “I thank the people of Telangana for blessing the BJP with such phenomenal support in the MLC elections. Congratulations to our newly elected candidates. I am very proud of our party karyakartas who are working among the people with great diligence.”

Bandi Sanjay Kumar, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs and the Karimnagar MP, took a dig at the Congress, saying, “BJP wins 2 MLC seats through ballot even as Congress crumbles. Be it EVM or ballot, the people choose the BJP! Now, will Rahul Gandhi, who keeps crying about EVMs, dare to answer? Or will he find another excuse for Congress’s failure?” He hailed it as a Ramzan gift to the Congress. BJP state president and Union minister for Mines G Kishan Reddy claimed the win reflected BJP’s growing stronghold in the state. BL Santhosh, the party’s national general secretary (organisation), described the win as another nail in the guarantee politics of Congress and INDI Alliance.

In the first preference round for the Karimnagar-Medak-Nizamabad-Adilabad Graduates Constituency election, BJP’s Anji Reddy secured 75,765 votes, while Congress candidate Narender Reddy got 70,565 votes, and BSP’s Prasanna Harikrishna polled 60,419 votes. The BRS did not field any candidate, but its leaders supported the BSP candidate. Since no clear winner emerged, the second preference votes were counted, in which Anji Reddy won by a margin of 4,991 votes.

While the BRS stayed away from the contest for three MLC seats, the Congress fielded a candidate for only the Graduates constituency, which was earlier held by its party member T Jeevan Reddy. Reddy had won the seat during the BRS regime but did not want to contest this time. The BJP was the only party that had fielded candidates for all three seats. Its Union ministers, MLAs, and leaders consistently campaigned for the candidates, unlike the Congress, which relied only on Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy to pull it through. PRTU-supported independent candidate T Sripal Reddy won from the Warangal-Khammam-Nalgonda Teachers constituency. Although the BJP had fielded a candidate, he was eliminated along with 17 other candidates, pointing to the fact that South Telangana was yet to warm up to the Saffron party.

Despite the setback to the party, aspirants within the Congress for the upcoming MLC elections for five seats elected by MLAs are scampering to secure their candidature. While the old guard wants to be rewarded for their loyalty, the young brigade, owing allegiance to the chief minister, are restless.