At the peak of the Palair byelection campaign, Congress claimed 1 TMC victory over TRS. The party,which is jolted by defections in Khammam district during the run up to the May 16 election, hopes to gain some goodwill among the Palair voters with Krishna waters.

A T-Congress delegation led by PCC president Uttamkumar Reddy and Opposition leader K Jana Reddy called Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah in Bengaluru and urged him to release three TMC water to Jurala to stave off the water crisis in drought-hit Telangana. Siddarmaiah reportedly agreed to release on 1 TMC and instructions issued. Congress claimed this as a victory in the face of what is calls governmental failure to take effective steps to bring relief to the people of Telangana. Would this compensate for the huge loss the party suffered when its own Khammam MLA Puvvada Ajay and the YSRC MP Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, who first supported Congress, crossed over to TRS?

Congress is passing through a critical phase in Telangana with many of its MLAs choosing to defect to TRS. In the past then days, the party lost two MLAs and one MLC. TRS has already wiped out YSR Congress and TDP’s strength has come down from 15 to 3. Two more are likely leave the party soon. TRS’s next target is Congress, which is recognized opposition party. Many belive that it is inching towards losing the tag. So, to arrest the rot set in the party, the Congress needs an electoral victory for which Palair looked ideal.

Originally, Palair is a stronghold of Congress and the late MLA Ramreddy Venkata Reddy had earned the party enough goodwill. Since the party has fielded wife of Venkatareddy as its candidate it is hopeful that the sympathy for the family among the voters would help retain the seat. The party hopes that the ‘1 TMC victory’ at the time of Palair election would tilt the balance in its favor.