Fuelled by a vigorous campaign across Telangana’s urban belts, the Congress secured a resounding win in the recent civic body elections, clinching a majority in 66 of 116 municipalities while emerging as the single largest party in 18 others.
The Congress also bagged three of seven municipal corporations that went to polls, even as it became the single largest party in two more corporations.
After stitching up alliances with smaller parties like the AIMIM, CPI and Independent corporators in several civic bodies, which threw up hung verdicts, the Congress has managed to come to power in a total of 82 municipalities and five corporations.
The BRS got a majority in just 12 municipalities and was wiped out in all corporations, though it emerged as the single largest party in 19 municipalities.
The BJP did not secure a majority in any urban body but emerged as the single largest party in two corporations and six municipalities. However, the BJP later managed to get the support of Independents to clinch the posts of mayor and deputy mayor in Karimnagar, where the poll outcome was hung.
In 2020, the BRS had swept the elections, when 10 corporations and 120 municipalities had gone to polls. The BRS secured outright majority in five corporations and was the single largest party in four. The Congress was decimated, while the BJP was the single largest party in one corporation.
The BRS had then won a majority in 79 municipalities and was the single-largest party in another 26. The Congress had got five majorities and led in 11, while the BJP had won two majorities and was the single largest party in two.
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Urban turnaround
The Congress’s dramatic turnaround in the municipal polls countered the perception that the party is strong only in rural seats as reflected in its victory in the 2023 Assembly elections.
The party’s strategy in these civic body elections was centred on its “development and welfare” plank, say party leaders who handled the poll campaign. “The party also ensured an effective coordination between the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) and the Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s office,” said a party insider. This led to all the ministers in the Revanth Reddy Cabinet to take part in the campaigning throughout the state at various stages.
“Our strategy was to showcase the two years of governance of the Congress and its welfare schemes including free bus travel for women, subsidy in electricity and household expenditure, fine rice scheme, housing scheme, among others,” party leader and minister Ponnam Prabhakar told The Indian Express.
“We distributed ration cards for lakhs of people across the state so that they can have fine rice. It made an impact and this is only one example out of many. There were scores of other measures,” Prabhakar said.
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TPCC president Mahesh Kumar Goud underlined that the Congress had no internal rifts while fighting the elections this time. “The TPCC worked closely with the Chief Minister’s office to get the results we got in terms of campaign and strategy. No stone was left unturned when it came to showing a united front,” Goud told the Indian Express.
The coordinated efforts of the Congress organisation and Revanth government, coupled with the party’s plank, got the better of the BJP and the BRS even in their strongholds like Nizamabad.
Once the parliamentary constituency of K Kavitha, daughter of BRS chief and ex-CM K Chandrashekar Rao or KCR, the Nizamabad seat was wrested from her by the BJP’s Dharmapuri Arvind in the 2019 general elections. Arvind, who retained the seat in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, campaigned for his party in the recent municipal polls.
“The BJP kept taking aim at AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi and that did not yield much results this time,” a Congress leader said. In the hung Nizamabad corporation, the Congress took the helm with the support of the AIMIM, which got the deputy mayor’s post.
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In Kothagudem municipal corporation, the CPI sprung a surprise, winning 22 of 60 seats. “The Congress also won 22 seats in this corporation. While there was no pre-poll alliance between us and any party, we managed to form alliances soon enough. We got the post of deputy mayor in the Kothagudem corporation (leaving the mayor’s post for the CPI),” a Congress leader said.
Prabhakar said that alliances were forged after the polls based on the ground realities and “micro-level equations”. “The alliances formed do not reflect the state-level political convictions of the Congress. We formed alliances which took into consideration the ground realities in each of the municipalities and corporations,” he said.
Goud pointed out that the Congress’s move to field many Backward Class (BC) candidates also played a key role in scripting its landslide in the civic polls. “The Congress gave more than 42% seats to BC candidates in these polls. The social justice push helped us,” he said.
