Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) scored big post its star-studded campaign, to come a close second to the ruling TRS party in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) elections. Of the 150 wards, TRS won in 55 wards, followed by BJP which won in 48 wards. The MIM managed to retain most of its seats by winning in 44 seats, while Congress won 2. The result paved the way for a hung GHMC as no party got a clear majority.
Almost all the major exit polls went off the mark as BJP improved its tally by more than 10 times—it was four earlier—much to the surprise of its own party members. The result day turned out to be dramatic as the BJP and TRS had a gap of more than 50 seats. In the first half of the day, the TRS went into a celebratory mood while BJP office sported a dull look. However, in what looked like a scripted thriller, the BJP gained rapidly in the afternoon, almost touching 50 while TRS numbers fell sharply. In the evening, it was the turn of BJP cadre to go wild, setting off fireworks and raising slogans outside its headquarters as the gap between BJP and TRS narrowed down to just seven seats.
The TRS, who were clear favourites to win the election, lost more than 40 sitting seats. The Congress managed to repeat theri last GHMC election's performance. This prompted Congress chief Uttam Kumar Reddy to tender his resignation. The Telugu Desam Party drew blank.
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The recent floods in Hyderabad seem to have had a major impact on the prospects of TRS. In LB Nagar constituency, which was one of the most affected by the floods, all the divisions were won by BJP candidates. This, despite TRS government distributing Rs 10,000 to every house affected in the floods. The BJP also seem to have made inroads into the old city, a stronghold of MIM, by winning a couple of seats. In the new growth areas, middle-class localities and IT belt, it was a TRS show all the way.
The results came as a shot in the arm for the BJP which brought party bigwigs like Home Minister Amit Shah, party president J.P. Nadda, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, to campaign. The party, which was never strong in the southern state, has now taken the place of the main opposition party.
“The countdown has begun,” said BJP president Bandi Sanjay referring to Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao and his party. Talking to the media outside the party office, he said that the next target of the party is to win the state assembly elections to be held in 2023.
The BJP’s campaign was aggressive and high on rhetorics with mention of Pakistan, Rohingyas, terrorism and surgical strikes. The party also strategically targeted MIM and TRS friendship, pushing both the parties on the defensive and vehemently denying any understanding.
As the TRS has no choice but to depend on MIM to stake claim for mayor’s post, the BJP is gearing up to launch fresh round of attack on the proximity between two parties and also add strength to their past allegation that “a vote to TRS is a vote to MIM.”
