KT Rama Rao, IT minister and Chief Minister in waiting, on Tuesday, conceded defeat in the Dubbaka Assembly byelection while thanking the people for voting for the TRS.
Stating that the party will review and evaluate the party’s defeat in the polls, KTR however said the party has accepted its defeat with humility. He said the party will not be overwhelmed if it wins nor will it be disheartened by defeat. “Sometimes we get discouraged when results are not as per our expectations but I would like to tell our workers to not be disheartened. We will review and continue to work for the people with our policies. Victory doesn’t make us arrogant, defeat doesn’t demoralize us. If people’s mandate is against us, we have to gracefully accept it. However, I thank all the voters who voted for the party.”
He thanked finance minister Harish Rao and the scores of TRS workers for relentlessly working to ensure the party’s victory. Further, the IT and MAUD minister vowed to rebuild and revive the party at the grassroots level. The IT minister also said the party is not nervous as he knows that the polls will have something good for the party. “The victory or loss certainly have their respective meanings but these are not the reasons for which we will be disheartened and continue to serve the people with even more grit and determination. The results will help us do some introspection and review in the days to come.”
BJP candidate M Raghunandan Rao defeated TRS candidate Ramalinga Reddy’s wife Solipeta Sujatha by a wafer-thin margin of votes. While Solipeta Sujatha polled 61,302, Raghunandan gave a tough fight by polling 62,772 votes. The BJP pinned high hopes on Raghunandan Rao although he had lost the 2018 Assembly and 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The Congress has fielded Cheruku Srinivas Reddy, the son of late former minister Cheruku Muthyam Reddy, who polled 29,239 votes.
With the Dubbaka bypoll victory, the BJP seems to have made it’s first big has made deep inroads in the state which appeared to be impregnable with K Chandrasekhar Rao being at the helm of affairs.
