KCR leads TRS to thumping victory: Here's why the 'pink party' prevailed in Telangana

The K Chandrashekar Rao-led Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) has managed to win in 62 seats and leading in another 25 seats in Telangana, thereby winning the gamble that he had set into after prematurely dissolving the assembly in September last year.

Even with the anticipation of facing an uphill task, the TRS had hailed KCR’s move as a masterstroke as it would give the party candidates a head start to engage with voters and increase their winning prospects.

So what worked for the TRS?

Rao, popularly known as KCR, is a mass leader, and was the force behind the statehood in Telangana. Besides, KCR had promised two-bedroom houses to all the house-less poor in Telangana, out of which only a few thousand have been constructed.

KCR’s flagship project, Mission Bhagiratha, was a promise to provide piped drinking water to every household.  Another promise of the TRS was every poor Dalit family be given three acres of land.

However, it is hard to say that these projects tasted success before KCR called for fresh elections.

What could have actually worked for the TRS was the uncertainty hovering around the Mahakutami, which failed to instill confidence in the electorate. KCR’s impromptu move had taken the Opposition parties, including N Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the Congress, by surprise. To the extent, that the opposition parties – the TDP, the Congress, the Communist Party of India (CPI) and Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS) – came together to form a formidable alliance, the Mahakutami.

However, there was no formal announcement with regards to seat sharing and seat allocation to the candidates until the very end. Another issue with the Mahakutami was the presence of too many power centres vying for the chief minister’s post. In case the alliance comes to power, the Congress has several senior leaders who are competing for the post; the TJS have been vocal in their demand to declare Kodandaram CM candidate; while the TDP leaders are trying not to get lost in the battle.

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