Telangana Election 2023 / How Congress's victory in Telangana is bad news for Akhilesh Yadav?

In the elections of five states, Congress has lost power in its two states Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, but has won the political battle of Telangana. After Karnataka, Congress has formed a government with absolute majority in another state of South India by winning 64 out of 119 seats in Telangana. The political impact of Congress's victory in Telangana and BRS's defeat will not be limited only to the politics

Vikrant Shekhawat : Dec 04, 2023, 04:30 PM
Telangana Election 2023: In the elections of five states, Congress has lost power in its two states Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, but has won the political battle of Telangana. After Karnataka, Congress has formed a government with absolute majority in another state of South India by winning 64 out of 119 seats in Telangana. The political impact of Congress's victory in Telangana and BRS's defeat will not be limited only to the politics of South but also to the politics of Uttar Pradesh.

Even Asaduddin Owaisi's support could not save BRS in Telangana and KCR missed the hat-trick of power. Even though Owaisi was successful in saving seven seats, he could not save KCR's power. After Karnataka, now the results of Telangana show that Muslims are losing confidence in regional parties and their inclination towards Congress is increasing rapidly. In such a situation, is Congress's victory in Telangana bad news for Akhilesh Yadav?

Changed voting pattern of Muslims

The voting pattern of Muslims is changing rapidly. In the first Delhi MCD elections, Muslims turned their backs on the Aam Aadmi Party and voted in favor of Congress. Muslims knowing very well that the contest is between BJP and Aam Aadmi Party and Congress is not in the electoral battle. Muslims voting in favor of Congress was seen as a political change. After Delhi, in the Karnataka elections, Muslims voted outright in favor of Congress and completely sidelined JDS.

JDS had fielded 23 Muslim candidates, but Muslims voted in favor of Hindu candidates of Congress on these seats. Muslim voters were considered the core votebank of JDS in the old Mysore region, the stronghold of HD Deve Gowda, where 14 per cent are Muslims. In this election, Muslim voters sidelined JDS and united in favor of Congress party. At the same time, now in Telangana elections, Muslims voted for Owaisi's party on the seats in the old Hyderabad area, but remained with Congress in the rest of Telangana.

Even with Owaisi, KCR's chair did not survive.

Telangana is the home state of Asaduddin Owaisi, who claims to be the leader of Muslims across the country. Owaisi had openly supported KCR in Telangana. Muslims expressed confidence in his traditional seven seats in Hyderabad, but in the rest his magic did not work on Muslims. The hope of getting complete Muslim votes with the help of Owaisi has remained unfulfilled. Muslims left BRS and voted in favor of Congress whereas CM KCR had done a lot of work for Muslims while in power. Despite this, Muslims voted for Congress instead of BRS.

After KCR launched separate schemes like IT-park, Shaadi Mubarak, Muslims sidelined Congress in national politics in the same way as they had done to JDS in Karnataka. The votes of Muslims went to Congress unilaterally because they felt that Congress would be more capable than regional parties in competing with BJP in national politics. Therefore, he is voting with the intention of strengthening Congress.