TRS sweeps Mandal Praja Parishad polls, wins 10 seats

HYDERABAD: With just a year before the elections, the ruling TRS swept the

Mandal Praja Parishad

bypolls in the state by winning 10 out of the 16 seats. The Congress and BJP won two seats each and the Independents the remaining two.

The bypolls were held in Nalgonda, Mahbubnagar, Kamareddy, Komaram Bheem, Rangareddy, Vanaparti-Gadwal and

Bhadradri

districts. "The bypoll results are a clear indication that the TRS government is moving in the right direction and has full support of the people in all districts. Through the verdict, the electorate has made it clear to the Congress and other parties that they are with the pink party," S Subhash Reddy, political secretary to the chief minister, told STOI.

Of the 10 seats where the TRS emerged victorious, it retained the Kanmanoor (Mahbubnagar),

Janvada

(Rangareddy), Krishnapuram and Errampalli (Nalgonda), Gopaldinne (Vanaparti-Gadwal), Bhadrachalam (Bhadradri) and Jakkepalli (Khammam) MPTC seats and wrested the Koutala (Komaram Bheem), Netnoor (Komaram Bheem) and

Ankushpur

(Sircilla) seats from the Congress and TDP.

Of the two seats that the Congress won, it wrested the Aknoor (Warangal) from the TRS and retained the Achampally MPTC seat in

Karimnagar

.

The BJP wrested the Gangadhara MPTC seat from the TRS in Karimnagar and retained the Mudnoor seat in Kamareddy. The independents wrested the Lingampally MPTC seat in Mahbubnagar from TRS and retained the Kothwalguda seat in Rangareddy.

The bypoll results came as a major shock for the Congress which had hoped better results. They had expected to win at least six seats and pose a tough fight in another three.

The results has the mood in the TRS upbeat, while the Congress and BJP are taking a stock of the situation and redrawing their strategy with the aim of bringing about better results in the

Lok Sabha

and Assembly elections scheduled for 2019 but could happen a few months earlier as well. The results are also an eye-opener for the TDP which had contested in all the seats but ended up drawing a blank.