Hyderabad: The BJP’s victory in two of three Telangana Legislative Council seats has set off alarm bells for the ruling Congress and other secular forces.
Winning in its north Telangana stronghold, the BJP gained momentum ahead of local body elections, demonstrating strong support among graduates and teachers. The party wrested the Karimnagar-Medak-Nizamabad-Adilabad graduates’ seat from Congress and secured another by winning teacher support in the same region.
This marks BJP’s second major victory after doubling its Lok Sabha seats in Telangana to eight last year.
Elections were held on Feb. 27 for three MLC seats: graduates’ and teachers’ constituencies in Karimnagar-Medak-Nizamabad-Adilabad and the teachers’ segment in Warangal-Khammam-Nalgonda. While BJP contested all three, Congress fielded a candidate only for the graduates’ seat. BRS, which lost power in 2023 and performed poorly in the Lok Sabha polls, stayed out.
Congress accused BRS of having a secret pact with BJP, while BJP claimed BRS was aligned with Congress.
BJP state president and union minister G. Kishan Reddy hailed the win as a sign of growing public support, emphasising that graduates and teachers are opinion-makers.
BJP MP and union minister Bandi Sanjay Kumar stirred controversy by calling the election an “India-Pakistan match,” portraying BJP as Team India and Congress as Pakistan. After the results, he declared, “India won,” and described the outcome as a “Ramzan gift” for Congress.
During campaigning, he criticised the Congress government for allowing Muslim employees to leave early during Ramzan and adjusting Class 10 pre-finals for the festival, signaling BJP’s intent to push communal narratives ahead of future elections.
With these wins, BJP’s strength in the 40-member Council rises to three. While this doesn’t threaten the Congress government, BJP is projecting the results as a sign of growing anti-incumbency within just 14 months of Congress rule.
BJP’s Anji Reddy defeated Congress’ Narender Reddy by 4,991 votes in the graduates’ constituency, securing 78,635 votes. BSP’s Prasanna Harikrishna finished third with 63,404 votes.
The party also won the teachers’ seat, further consolidating its presence in north Telangana, where it had earlier secured four of eight Lok Sabha seats and seven of eight Assembly seats.
