Congress ‘star campaigner’ Revanth Reddy fails to impress Maharashtra voters

Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy was the sole “star campaigner’ from Telangana in a list of 40 such campaigners for the Congress in Maharashtra, but his claims of having implemented promises made to people in Telangana apparently failed to convince voters in Maharashtra, with the Congress performing pathetically in nine of 10 constituencies that Revanth Reddy campaigned in.

Most strikingly, Revanth Reddy had held road shows and participated in public meetings in constituencies that have a substantial Telugu speaking population. These included Chandrapur, Solapur Central, Naigaon, Digras, Bhokar, Nagpur Central, Rajura, Wardha and Kadegaon, most of which were in close proximity with the Telangana border. In eight of these, the BJP was leading in seven, while the Shiv Sena was leading in one. Apparently, though the final results were yet to be announced officially, the trend reflected the complete lack of confidence among people on the words of Revanth Reddy and in the Congress party’s guarantees announced in Maharashtra.

At Digras, even former AICC Telangana incharge Manikrao Thakare was also



trailing, indicating the impact of Chief Minister’s campaign.

Political analysts pointed out that even as farmers were staging protests over the Telangana government’s failure in implementing the crop loan waiver, Revanth Reddy had claimed at a meeting in Rajura constituency that within 25 days of Congress government coming to power, Rs.18,000 crore was spent to waive loans of 22 lakh farmers.

At Chandrapur, Revanth Reddy had told the voters that if they elected Congress candidate Pravin Padwekar from Chandrapur, they would have one brother to look after them in Chandrapur, and the second in Hyderabad. Padwekar, however, lost.

Apart from his assurances on guarantees, the Chief Minister’s theory that it was only a battle between Congress and BJP, with there being no ‘regional parties’. That too apparently did not win the people’s confidence.

Taking a dig at the Chief Minister, BRS leader Manne Krishank said on X: “Congress arrogant Chief Minister said there are no regional parties. Did the Congress score better than regional parties in Maharashtra?”