In the high-intense political battle in Telangana’s Huzurabad by-election, the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged victorious by defeating the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) with a big margin of 23,000 votes. Winning the seat was crucial for the BJP and Etela Rajender.
Both TRS and BJP went all guns firing for the by-election but the saffron party had the last laugh. In the victory, Etela Rajender has a bigger role to play than the BJP party in the by-election victory. The election was not like other by-polls and everyone saw it as a battle between Chief Minister KCR and Etela Rajender.
The connection Etela Rajender had with the people in Huzurabad and the sympathy he gained worked for him and he went on to win the elections. Having held a stronghold on the Assembly election, Etela Rajender won the constitution for the fifth time. This shows how people in the constituency believe him.
Keeping the by-election in mind, the TS government had launched Dalit Bandhu, a scheme that aims of empowering the Dalit community. Chief Minister KCR even announced that he will start similar schemes for the other communities as well. However, this could not save the TRS in the high-intense political fight.
The ruling party was very confident in winning the by-poll and pinned high hopes on the Dalit Bandhu scheme. Proving all their predictions wrong, Etela Rajender won the elections. He had managed to invoke the Telangana sentiment and termed his fight with KCR as Telangana’s self-respect.
With the election win, Etela Rajender has once again proved that Huzurabad is his strong base and he has a good hold on the region. His image has certainly increased with the win. On the other hand, BJP also sent an intention that it can be the alternative in the state.
It has to be noted that Etela Rajender had resigned from his cabinet post and joined BJP after the much-talked-about land encroachment allegations. He was stripped of his post and the government launched a probe into the matter. Following this, he joined the saffron party and contested the elections on a BJP ticket.