AAP's electoral rout: Why all major parties in Telangana are happy

The defeat of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) led by Arvind Kejriwal and the Congress in the recently concluded Delhi elections has made all the major political parties in Telangana happy.

All the three major parties in Telangana – Bharata Rashtra Samiti (BRS), Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – seem to be taking potshots at each other over the Delhi electoral verdict as each party had its own reason to celebrate the election results.

AAP's electoral rout has brought back the BJP to the capital after 26 long years.

Delhi outcome

The BRS appears to be happy because the Congress which fielded Telangana chief minister Revanth Reddy as a star campaigner lost miserably. The Congress is upbeat as Kejriwal, a friend of KCR, suffered a humbling defeat. While the Telangana Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is jubilant because the alleged corruption charges due to K Chandrashekar Rao's family led to the ruin of AAP and Revanth Reddy did not turn out to be a trump card for the Congress.

Also read: BRS's Rama Rao mocks Rahul Gandhi over BJP's Delhi win

The first photo that was shared widely on social media when news of the AAP trailing started trickling in on February 8 was that of K Kavitha.

Kavitha, the daughter of BRS leader and former chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao, is an accused in the Delhi liquor scam. This led to her arrest in April 2024 by the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation. The case shook the AAP government as it led to the arrest of deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia first and chief minister Kejriwal later.

This led to the change of guard in the Delhi government. These developments are seen as the outcome of liquor scam in which Kavitha is considered to be one of the key players.

KTR attacks Rahul

KCR was considered as a guru of sorts by Kejriwal. The AAP leader called on KCR in Hyderabad twice and hosted a lunch for him in New Delhi. These meetings, while not leading to any political understanding, opened the doors for Kavitha to sneak into the corridors of power in Delhi.

Also read: BRS churn: With KCR on the wane, Kavitha throws hat in the ring

Backed by the Kejriwal-KCR-Kavitha bond, the anti-KCR social media army immediately linked the defeat of Kejriwal to Kavitha.

To counter this narrative, Kavitha’s brother KT Ramarao (KTR) launched a sarcastic thread on X (Twitter) against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. "Congrats to Rahul Gandhi for winning the election for BJP, yet again! Well done," the BRS working president said on X.

Further, he described Revanth Reddy as an “Iron Leg”.

Congress hits back

'Iron Leg' is a derogatory term used for a person who brings ill luck to the place where he goes. The term was popularised by director EVV Satyanarana through his movie 'Appula Apparao' (1991).

“Revanth campaigned in Maharashtra, the Congress lost. Now he campaigned in Delhi and his party ended up in forfeiting deposits,” KTR said.

Infuriated by KTR’s jibe at Rahul Gandhi, the Telangana Congress unleashed a campaign against BRS and KCR by releasing pictures of all those chief ministers who lost election after a meeting with the BRS chief.

These pictures include Naveen Patnaik of Odisha, YS Jaganmohan Reddy of Andhra Pradesh, Uddhav Thackaray from Maharashtra and Kejriwal in Delhi.

BJP's 'B' team?

Congress spokesperson Janak Prasad shot back by stating: “KTR should first congratulate his sister Kavitha for being the biggest helping hand in Modi’s victory.”

TPCC president and MLC Mahesh Kumar Goud commented that Kejriwal lost the polls because of his friendship with the BRS. He said the alleged liquor scam dented Kejriwal's image and affected AAP’s prospects.

Telangana Congress general secretary Kota Neelima cautioned the BRS about the inevitable fate of BJP's 'B' teams.

‘This is the inevitable future of BJP’s B Teams across the country, whether BRS or AAP. Everyone understands your anxiety,” she said on X.

Telangana BJP gets confident

Meanwhile, the BJP is in a celebratory mood. Union minister of state for home Bandi Sanjay said he is enthused by the Delhi election results and that the BJP would form the government in all states soon, including Telangana.

“Reason is simple: We don’t have a leader who has gone to jail for corruption and other illegal activities. The BJP is led by righteous Modi. Like Delhi, all future elections will be one-sided battles. We will win all states and Telangana is no exception,” Bandi told the media.