Welfare pitch helps Congress win its second southern state

In BRS, Congress has defeated a regional powerhouse, but party insiders admit that similar successes in other parts of the country would be difficult

- Saubhadra Chatterji

The Congress on Sunday scripted a rare turnaround story in Telangana as it comprehensively trounced the Bharat Rashtra Samithi in results that came as a salve for the party that was bruised by routs in three of India’s key heartland states.

The party won 65 of the 119 seats in the southern state –a rare feat for a party that had not been able to defeat a regional powerhouse in any key state, barring the Northeast, since the turn of the millennium.

The party’s resounding success in Telangana – it had won just 21 seats five years ago – was built on the back of a rooted and energetic campaign that took a leaf out of the Congress’s Karnataka strategy, focused on welfare outreach, pinned the BRS on corruption allegations, and projected a strong local leadership.

“I thank the people of Telangana for the mandate we have received from them,” Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge said on X.

Congress insiders were quick to point out that a similar success against regional parties in other parts of the country would be difficult. “Many of them are our allies. And in states like Odisha (ruled by the Biju Janata Dal), our party is a distant third,” a Congress functionary said, requesting anonymity.

Still, the Congress’s triumph in a state that it was virtually decimated five years ago marked an important moment of revival – especially in southern India. Having ruled over India and a majority of its states in the initial decades after Independence, the Congress gradually conceded ground to regional parties, especially after the rise of Mandal politics in the 1980s. Be it Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha or West Bengal, the Congress has not been able to wrest power from the regional forces once it was pushed out of power.