Telangana Chief Minister KCR.
Credit: PTI File Photo
Hyderabad: After back-to-back political setbacks since last year's Telangana Assembly polls, former ruling party BRS got a breather on Sunday after its candidate won the Legislative Council by-election from the Mahabubnagar local bodies constituency. Party candidate K Naveen Kumar Reddy won by defeating his Congress rival for 108 votes. Notably, the BRS victory comes at the home turf of Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy.
Naveen defeated Congress candidate Manne Jeevan Reddy. The election was necessitated as the sitting MLC Kasireddy Narayana Reddy won from Kalwakurthi constituency in the Assembly election on a Congress ticket.
Out of a total of 1,439 electors, 1,437 voters participated in the polling held on March 28.
BJP did not field a candidate in the by-election, leading to a direct contest between the BRS and Congress.
BRS working president and former minister K T Rama Rao termed the MLC victory as an indication of the "changing political dynamics" in Telangana.
He said the "significant" victory in the Mahabubnagar MLC by-election signalled a "turning point" in the evolving political landscape of Telangana. "This victory in the local bodies legislative council seat within the chief minister's home districts serves as a testament to the shifting political winds in the state," according to KTR.
In his statement, KTR claimed the BRS successfully contested the election against the ruling party's "enticements", shining light on the failures of Congress governance within a mere six months.