The decisive victory of Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) candidate P Dayakar shows that the influence of the party and the breadth and the width of T-sentiment is intact in interior Telangana. The resounding mandate delivered by the voters of Warangal Lok Sabha Constituency is not a mere win of TRS candidate, it is personal victory for KCR, as both sides of battle agreed that the byelection was a referendum on the style of governance of TRS Supremo. None of the issues, very importantly the suicides of farmers, in the new state, raised by the opposition parties seem to have worked in the election. All opposition parties raised the alleged failure of KCR government to implement free KG to PG education, partial loan waiver, spiraling prices, nominal implementation of 2BHK program, collapsing economy, corruption in Kakaitya Mission and Water Grid etc have not been taken seriously by the voters of Warangal. The Congress’ attempt to convince the people of the most important town in the state after Hyderabad, that it was Congress president Sonia Gandhi who was responsible for the creation of Telangana state, not KCR, who was not even present in House when the Lok Sabha was debating the Telangana bill, appears to have had no takers.
The reason could be that the electorate of Warangal did not seem in a mood to upset the TRS apple cart in so brief a period of 17 months. TRS is generally seen as the party of Telangana movement and is almost synonymous with Telangana sentiment. KCR, the founder of the party, built the Telangana Rashtra Samiti in such a way that it represented every section of the society and all colors of the political spectrum. Imbibing the elements from Left extreme Maoist party to right wing BJP, KCR transformed the regional party into sole representative of Telangana where other parties did not matter at all. The strategy KCR used to nullify the influence of other political parties like Congress, TDP , BJP ,CPI , CPM and YSRC is that talking against KCR or TRS is tantamount to talking against Telangana. This strategy divided the Telangana into “our TRS ‘ and ‘the other inimical opposition parties’ to be rejected at the hustings. The thumping majority, the voters of Warangal delivered to TRS candidate, mirrors this division and rejection of Congress, TDP-BJP, the Left and YSR Congress lock stock and barrel. All opposition parties have no option but to concede the result of the ‘referendum’ and allow the TRS supremo KCR the freedom to rule according to his whims and fancies. Warangal voters have not only sent a T-soldier to the parliament, but also affixed the seal of their approval on the policies, schemes and proposals, which KCR government rolled back recently fearing backlash in Warangal. And now, they will be revived and implemented with vengeance.