KARIMNAGAR. Minister for Sports and Culture M. Satyanarayana Rao has said that the Congress party has suffered a setback in the local bodies due to an election alliance with the Telangana Rashtra Samithi in Karimnagar district.

"On the other hand, the TRS has benefited due to the alliance. The TRS has miserably lost in the municipal and cooperative elections for not having an alliance with the Congress in the district,'' he points out.

TDP's gain

Talking to The Hindu here on Tuesday, the Minister said: "The Congress' victory in the local bodies' elections was expected. But the TDP has gained considerably in the district.''

He said that the weaker sections and landless poor of society have distanced with the Congress party.

Quoting instances of weaker sections revolting against the Congress party, he said that the weaker sections had protested against non-waiver of power bill dues of domestic consumers during the `Prajapatham' programme in a majority of villages. "The non-implementation of free power for `one-bulb domestic consumers' has cost the party dearly,'' he noted.

Neutral verdict?

However, he stated that the verdict was neither against the State Government nor in favour of TDP. "Though the free power scheme for farmers was being implemented, it had not benefited the Government. A majority of weaker sections have distanced for not providing them with free power for the domestic use,'' he stated.

On BJP performance

Asked about the poor performance by the BJP, he asked why the BJP had not failed in the local bodies elections in spite of its national and State leaders reiterating about the formation of Telangana statehood. He said that the people had lost faith on Telangana leaders. He reminded that the Telangana Praja Samithi (TPS) was merged with the Congress and the same way the TRS leaders had remained silent after attaining power on the Telangana sentiment at the Centre. People would not believe leaders who were coming on Telangana statehood issue, he added.

The Minister was shocked over the poor performance of ZPTC and MPTC candidates in his own Karimnagar Assembly segment comprising Karimnagar, Manakondur and Thimmapur mandals. He said that earlier people used to elect the leaders who strived for their development but not now.

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