{"id":10287502,"date":"2025-10-04T16:10:25","date_gmt":"2025-10-04T10:40:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/?post_type=article&p=10287502"},"modified":"2025-10-04T16:10:33","modified_gmt":"2025-10-04T10:40:33","slug":"in-telangana-rural-body-polls-congress-govt-faces-acid-test-brs-bjp-aim-to-gain-ground-10287502","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/political-pulse\/in-telangana-rural-body-polls-congress-govt-faces-acid-test-brs-bjp-aim-to-gain-ground-10287502\/","title":{"rendered":"In Telangana rural body polls, Congress govt faces acid test; BRS, BJP aim to gain ground"},"content":{"rendered":"

The rural local body polls in Telangana are going to be held in five phases from October 9 to November 11, according to the State Election Commission. While the sarpanch polls will be held in three phases, the elections to the Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituencies (MPTCs) and the Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituencies (ZPTCs) will be held in two phases.<\/p><\/ev-engagement><\/ev-engagement>

\n

These elections are set to be crucial for the ruling Congress as well as the Opposition parties, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and the BJP<\/a>, even though the Assembly elections are three years away.<\/p>\n

While the campaigns for these rural body polls would focus on local issues related to the concerns and demands of rural areas, all the three parties have indicated that they would also take up \u201clarger issues\u201d including the performance of A Revanth Reddy<\/a>-led Congress government in the state, urea shortage for which the BJP-led Centre has been in a spot, and the state\u2019s Bills providing for 42% backward classes (BCs) reservation, which has not got the Presidential nod so far.<\/p>\n

Sources in the BRS and the BJP said their campaigns would centre around the \u201cfailures\u201d of the Congress government on various fronts as it has been at the helm for nearly two years now. Both the Opposition parties are looking to consolidate their support bases in rural belts.<\/p>\n

\u201cExcept for the free bus travel for women, none of the schemes which the Congress announced have been implemented completely,\u201d BJP spokesperson Krishna Sagar Rao said.<\/p>\n

The Congress\u2019s six guarantees \u2014 which were part of its pledges for the November 2023 Assembly elections \u2014 include women welfare schemes such as a monthly sum of Rs 2,500, gas cylinders for Rs 500, and free travels in state-run buses. The party had pledged Rythu Bharosa for farmers, including Rs 15,000 per acre (both landowners and tenants), Rs 12,000 for agricultural labourers, and a paddy bonus of Rs 500 every year.<\/p>\n

The Congress had also promised the Gruha Jyothi scheme to provide 200 units of free electricity to every household. The party had proposed the Indiramma Illu scheme to give 250 square yard plot to all Telangana movement fighters and a house site and Rs 5 lakh for people who do not own a home. It had pledged Yuva Vikasam to give students a Vidya Bharosa card worth Rs 5 lakh, proposing to set up Telangana International Schools in every mandal. The party\u2019s another guarantee, Cheyutha, was to provide senior citizens with a monthly pension of Rs 4,000 and Rs 10 lakh under the Rajiv Arogyasri insurance.<\/p>\n

A BRS leader said, \u201cNone of these schemes have been implemented to its fullest even after two years of the Congress government. The party basically made unrealisable promises and cheated the people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rejecting such allegations, the Congress camp however maintains that the Revanth Reddy government has implemented all these guarantees.<\/p>\n

Former BRS MLC K Kavitha, who quit the party over differences with its leadership, said the key issues for the rural local body polls would be 42% BC quota and urea shortage which has hit the farmers. \u201cThe Congress has not been able to convince the Centre to allow 42% reservation for BCs. This is a major setback for the Congress,\u201d Kavitha told The Indian Express<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The BJP leaders have been on the defensive over the urea crisis. \u201cThe Centre has given Telangana its share of urea. But the Congress government has not been able to prevent black market sales,\u201d Krishna Sagar Rao said.<\/p>\n

The Congress leaders have maintained that the rural body polls would determine that their government has been \u201con the right track of development and public welfare\u201d. \u201cAll the schemes promised by the government are up and running. Despite the previous BRS government plunging the state into debts, the Congress government has been able to mobilise funds for the benefits of Telangana people,\u201d said Manavata Rai, state Congress general secretary.<\/p>\n

The Congress leaders also claimed that the common people have been \u201cimpressed by Chief Minister Revanth Reddy\u201d and that every vote in favour of the Congress would be a \u201cvote in favour of Revanth Reddy\u2019s model of governance\u201d. “We have a CM who works 18 hours a day,” a Congress leader said.<\/p>\n

The Congress camp also said the urea crisis has yet to be resolved by the Centre, claiming that it would dent the BJP\u2019s performance in the rural body polls. \u201cFarmers are agitated and they know that the BJP has not been able to solve the urea shortage. They also know that the state government has been doing everything possible to make urea available for farmers,\u201d a Congress leader said.<\/p>\n

As regards the BRS, the Congress camp points to the internal rifts in the regional party. \u201cThe first family in the BRS \u2013 of BRS founder and ex-CM K Chandrashekar Rao or KCR \u2013 is reeling under its rifts with KCR\u2019s daughter K Kavitha being forced to leave the party. \u201cThe BRS is weak and the BJP is in the dock over urea. The Congress will sweep the local bodies,\u201d a Congress leader claimed.<\/p>\n

In the November 2023 Assembly polls, the Congress ousted the BRS from power, securing 64 of the state\u2019s 119 seats as against the BRS\u2019s 39. The BJP had then managed to win just 8 seats, but in 2024 Lok Sabha polls the party bagged 8 of 17 seats \u2014 the same as the Congress, with the BRS failing to open its account.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Besides focusing on local issues, the campaigns of Congress, BRS and BJP would rake up \u201clarger issues\u201d including Revanth Reddy govt\u2019s performance, urea crisis and pending 42% BC quota Bills<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":10287512,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","tags":[635437363,635454905],"ie_section":[635437367],"ie_topic":[],"ie_city":[33080],"ie_story_template":[635455040],"ie_story_from":[],"ie_agency":[],"ie_byline_authors":[635453521],"ie_written_by_agency":[],"ie_reported_by":[],"ie_reported_by_agency":[],"ie_edited_by":[],"ie_edited_by_agency":[],"ie_exclusive":[635436168],"ie_curated_by":[],"ie_article_content_type":[],"ie_brand_solutions":[],"ie_et_al_microsite_tag":[],"ie_ipl_teams":[],"ie_fifa_teams":[],"ie_pkl_teams":[],"ie_sponsored_tags":[],"ie_author_custom_dimension":[635436194],"ie_t20_worldcup":[],"ie_cwc_teams":[],"ep_custom_result":[],"class_list":["post-10287502","article","type-article","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-political-pulse","tag-politics-south","ie_section-political-pulse","ie_city-hyderabad","ie_story_template-politics-one","ie_byline_authors-nikhila-henry","ie_exclusive-digital-first","ie_author_custom_dimension-digital-first"],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/political-pulse\/in-telangana-rural-body-polls-congress-govt-faces-acid-test-brs-bjp-aim-to-gain-ground-10287502\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"WebPage","headline":"In Telangana rural body polls, Congress govt faces acid test; BRS, BJP aim to gain ground","url":"http:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/political-pulse\/in-telangana-rural-body-polls-congress-govt-faces-acid-test-brs-bjp-aim-to-gain-ground-10287502\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/political-pulse\/in-telangana-rural-body-polls-congress-govt-faces-acid-test-brs-bjp-aim-to-gain-ground-10287502\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/images.indianexpress.com\/2025\/10\/telangana-liquor-addict-row.jpg?resize=450,253","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/images.indianexpress.com\/2025\/10\/telangana-liquor-addict-row.jpg"},"articleSection":"Political Pulse","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"anjishnu"}],"creator":["anjishnu"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The Indian Express","logo":"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/fav-icon.png"},"keywords":["political pulse","politics south"],"dateCreated":"2025-10-04T10:40:25Z","datePublished":"2025-10-04T10:40:25Z","dateModified":"2025-10-04T10:40:33Z"},"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n","tracker_url":"https:\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/indianexpress.com\/p.js"},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/10287502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/article"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10287502"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10287512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10287502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10287502"},{"taxonomy":"ie_section","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ie_section?post=10287502"},{"taxonomy":"ie_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ie_topic?post=10287502"},{"taxonomy":"ie_city","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ie_city?post=10287502"},{"taxonomy":"ie_story_template","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ie_story_template?post=10287502"},{"taxonomy":"ie_story_from","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ie_story_from?post=10287502"},{"taxonomy":"ie_agency","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ie_agency?post=10287502"},{"taxonomy":"ie_byline_authors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ie_byline_authors?post=10287502"},{"taxonomy":"ie_written_by_agency","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ie_written_by_agency?post=10287502"},{"taxonomy":"ie_reported_by","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ie_reported_by?post=10287502"},{"taxonomy":"ie_reported_by_agency","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ie_reported_by_agency?post=10287502"},{"taxonomy":"ie_edited_by","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ie_edited_by?post=10287502"},{"taxonomy":"ie_edited_by_agency","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ie_edited_by_agency?post=10287502"},{"taxonomy":"ie_exclusive","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ie_exclusive?post=10287502"},{"taxonomy":"ie_curated_by","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ie_curated_by?post=10287502"},{"taxonomy":"ie_article_content_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ie_article_content_type?post=10287502"},{"taxonomy":"ie_brand_solutions","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ie_brand_solutions?post=10287502"},{"taxonomy":"ie_et_al_microsite_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ie_et_al_microsite_tag?post=10287502"},{"taxonomy":"ie_ipl_teams","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ie_ipl_teams?post=10287502"},{"taxonomy":"ie_fifa_teams","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ie_fifa_teams?post=10287502"},{"taxonomy":"ie_pkl_teams","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ie_pkl_teams?post=10287502"},{"taxonomy":"ie_sponsored_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ie_sponsored_tags?post=10287502"},{"taxonomy":"ie_author_custom_dimension","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ie_author_custom_dimension?post=10287502"},{"taxonomy":"ie_t20_worldcup","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ie_t20_worldcup?post=10287502"},{"taxonomy":"ie_cwc_teams","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ie_cwc_teams?post=10287502"},{"taxonomy":"ep_custom_result","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ep_custom_result?post=10287502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}