Ahead of Assembly Polls, Political Scene Heats up in Telangana

With the election commission signaling early elections, political parties have kick-started their campaigns across Telangana. While it is not yet certain why the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) led government chose to dissolve the assembly nine months before the tenure ends, the state’s assembly elections- which were supposed to be conducted simultaneously with the Lok Sabha elections- are now to be held in November or December.

After announcing a list of 105 TRS candidates, caretaker Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao has begun his party’s campaign which has sent shock waves to leaders across parties. On the other hand, the opposition parties in the state are yet to sort out the alliances among themselves.

Also Read: Telangana Elections: Several Alliances among Opposition parties in the Making

The sudden announcement of elections has made the decades-old rival parties - Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Congress to join hands to fight the TRS. While these two parties are likely open for a larger alliance in the name of ‘Mahakutami’, so far, the CPI(M) led Bahujan Left Front, a joint front of 28 organisations have made their point clear about not joining hands with it. Actor Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena Party has informally announced to join hands with the CPIM-led BLF. Professor Kodandaram’s newly floated Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS), which was approached by both the Congress and CPI(M), has not yet made its stand clear on the alliance. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which went to elections with the TDP in the previous elections, has been singled out this time and will be contesting separately.

The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) on September 10 released their list of seven candidates for constituencies located in and around Hyderabad. While the TRS and AIMIM have called themselves to be “friendly” parties, they have chosen to contest separately in the upcoming elections. But, as per reports, TRS has fielded weaker candidates in these seven constituencies, perhaps, favouring AIMIM.

In the 2014 assembly elections, the TRS had won in 63 constituencies and formed the government. Congress which had won 22 seats formed the opposition in the assembly, followed by TDP (15), AIMIM (7), BJP (5), YSR Congress (3) BSP (2), CPI(M) (1), CPI (1) and an Independent candidate in one seat. Of the total votes polled in the previous elections, the TRS had a vote share of 34.3 per cent, followed by the Congress - 25.2 per cent, TDP - 14.7 per cent, BJP - 7.1 per cent, AIMIM - 3.8 per cent and the remaining parties including the independent candidates shared 14 per cent of the total votes polled.  

However, with numerous MLAs defecting from various parties to the TRS, its number of MLAs stood at 82 at the time of the dissolution of the assembly.   

The TRS Regime

The TRS formed the first government in Telangana on June 2, 2014, after the state was bifurcated from erstwhile Andhra Pradesh through the AP State Reorganisation Act, 2014. The people of Telangana, from all quarters, had joined the movement for separate statehood of their region, mainly hoping for more employment opportunities and development. The TRS, which gained the people’s mandate had showered a significant number of promises before coming to power. However, it failed to keep up to most of its crucial promises, including one lakh government jobs, triple bedroom houses for homeless people, and land distribution to SCs and STs.

Also Read: Telangana Govt. Brags Welfare Measures, Students Protest demanding Jobs

Apart from a number of welfare schemes and irrigation and infrastructural projects launched by the TRS government, it created new districts in the state and introduced new zonal system. However, the loopholes and failure of such schemes to actually address the issues of the people have been highlighted again and again.

The following table is a timeline of the significant political events in Telangana