Hyderabad polls: BJP surge ruins TRS vicotory party

In the high-stakes the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) polls the BJP's massive surge has paid off partially for the party that is eyeing the Telangana Assembly election due in 2023. Though the ruling TRS party emerged as the largest party by winning 58 seats but its victory was dimmed by the BJP which secured second place by winning 47 seats. The BJP that made serious inroads into KCR’s political courtyard. The BJP had won three seats in the 2015 GHMC polls. It won 47 seats in the GHMC polls. The Congress has won just two.AIMIM won 44 seats . The Hyderabad Corporation has 150 seats. 

Union minister and BJP leader G Kishan Reddy said results of GMCH elections show that the BJP has emerged as a "strong party". "TRS had 99 seats in Hyderabad, this has come down to 55 now. We had 4 seats and we have won 50 as of now. The number of seats of AIMIM has also gone down, the same goes for TRS. BJP has today emerged as a strong party."

Telangana Congress unit chief Uttam Kumar Reddy has resigned from the party post. The BJP raised the stakes in the civic polls after its victory in the recent by-election to the Dubbak assembly constituency. The party flew in national leaders like Amit Shah, JP Nadda, Yogi Adityanath, Prakash Javadekar and Smriti Irani, hoping to convince Hyderabad that a change was needed, if not now then certainly in the 2023 state polls. The poll in the city also assumes political significance as 24 Assembly segments fall under the GHMC limits.

The BJP's electoral gains have come from the flood-hit parts of Hyderabad where there was public anger against the state government over the alleged mishandling of flood relief. The BJP also reached out to those who felt disenchanted by the TRS for various reasons, like the Reddy community, the so-called settler population.The GHMC was formed in April 2007 by merging 12 municipalities and eight gram panchayats with the Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad (MCH). Four districts fall within GHMC limits, including Hyderabad, Ranga Reddy, Medchal-Malkajgiri and Sangareddy.