Is TRS not confident of winning the crucial Warangal bypoll showcasing the last 17-month rule by its chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao. Is it scared of anti-incumbency, which surreptitiously creeping under the soil it is standing on. The party, suddenly veered away from the glorification of the TRS 17-month long rule as a unique phase in the development of Telangana with projects like Kakatiya mission and Water Grid to mean ‘local versus non-local’ candidates contest. First the party started showcasing the period as the real fulfillment of Telangana political aspiration because during the period it named the Agriculture university after Prof Jaishankar, Horticulture university after Konda Lakshman Bapuju. It also boasted of erecting statues of Chakalai Ilamma and G Venkataswamy.

So, the party says the TRS heralded real Telangana governance. These were the achievements which Panchayat Raj minister K T Ramarao listed out as Telangana landmarks and asked the Warangal voters to vote for P Dayakar, its candidate. So far so good. But, Suddenly, from yesterday, same Ramarao has changed tack and started playing on the defensive. Instead of basing on the what he considers the achievements of TRS government, KTR, son of chief minister KCR, seems to be banking on the perceived weak points of the rivals, non-local. KTR, who is now leading the campaign, described the fight in Warangal bypoll as the local versus non-local.

What might have forced the TRS to change the campaign tune? Is it fear of the Congress’s aggressive psychological game that ” Congress is winning with more than a lakh vote’ that forced the TRS to search for cover. TPCC’s ‘one lakh vote majority” campaign appears to have unnerved the ruling party to such an extent that the TRS is banking on the local and non-local aspect of the contesting candidates thinking that Warangal voters would stall non-locals entering Warangal and rescue it from being beaten up by anti-incumbency.

Launching defensive from Warangal KTR said Congress candidate Sarve Satyanarayana was a useless one-rupee note and BJP’s Devaiah was a US dollar bill. ” Displaying a cut-one rupee note, he said Sarve Satyanarayana was a worthless cut note.” It was not reject in Hyderabad. Why do people accept it in Warangal,” he asked. Similarly, he said, BJP’s Devaiah was dollar bill which was not a legal tender in Warangal. TRS Candidate Pasunuri Dayakar, was a local breed and worked like a soldier with KCR in T-movement and he was the right person to represent constituency, was his argument.

But, Congress is happy with the battle turning into local and non-local clash. According to senior Congress leader and leader of opposition in the Legislative Council Md Ali Shabbir, Congress scored over TRS and the party won the battle at psychological level. Shabbir says TRS has no right to talk about local and non-local aspect of the candidates. Because, the party is sitting in a glass chamber.
“The party parceled out KCR family members across the state and fielded them in various elections. TRS patriarch KCR contested from Karimnagar and Mahabubnagar. Was he not a local candidate?” Shabbir asked. He said same was the case with other family members.
He said the TRS was standing on a shaky ground and hence attacking Congress leader Sarve as non-local candidate. ” Sarve is son of the soil of Telangana. He participated in Telangana movement. By calling him a non-local, KTR acknowledged defeat in the Warangal battle even before it was fought,” he said.