After Karnataka, Telangana adds to Congress southern comfort

The Congress victory in Telangana has more strategic value than merely being a consolation prize for the party on the day of Northern jolts. Not only does Telangana add to the Southern comfort of the Grand Old Party after its Karnataka victory, it also gets the Congress leadership the control of the cash-rich Hyderabad just as it got to handle the rich Bengaluru in Karnataka. It helps in a big way in the run-up to the larger Lok Sabha polls, as it provides the much-needed resources to fuel the expensive electoral preparations.

The victory in Telangana also helps the Congress to finally retrieve half of the united Andhra Pradesh which it had squandered away with its 2010 messy bifurcation exercise. While it is difficult to say whether the Telangana victory will help the Congress to rebound in Andhra, it certainly gives the party the hope of bagging some extra Lok Sabha seats from Telangana in the next Lok Sabha polls.

Revanth Eyes CM post


The Congress victory now puts the focus squarely on who will be the first Congress chief minister of Telangana. PCC chief Revanth Reddy, whom many in the Congress nickname as "Telangana Sidhu" and who has reached the Congress after travelling through three other 'isms' , is expected to make his claim to the post by claiming that he led the battle as PCC chief. Yet, a group of "traditional Congress leaders" of Telangana, including some Reddy rivals of Revantha, are expected to throw their hat in the ring or start arguing 'Rahul Gandhi's commitment to the cause of backward castes' by making a CM from the neglected castes. Among the other contenders include Dalit leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and former PCC chief Uttam Reddy. Given his temperament, Revanth is expected to fight out for the top job. The Congress high command will try to get an authorisation for the party president to make the choice from Delhi after consultation with the elected MLAs.

The Congress owes its victory in Telangana much to the party's smart tapping of the incumbency burden of the BRS regime and the tactical failures the BJP made, triggering a buzz about the saffron party going soft on BRS. The results also indicated that Muslims, mostly outside the AIMIM's Old Hyderabad citadel, swinging back to the Congress from BRS.