- In the first phase election conducted on April 16, 2009 for 13 districts (Srikakulam, Vijayanagaram, Visakhapatnam, and the 10 districts of Telangana) Telugu people showed disinterest in Mahakutami which was full of contradictory ideas. Chiranjeevi’s charisma was of no use.
- It only divided the votes. Thus Congress came to power once again. In this elections TRS won only 2 MP seats (KCR from Mahabubnagar and Vijayashanthi from Medak).Out of the 45 Assembly seats contested TRS won only 10 seats.
2009 General Elections
The General Elections in 2009 took place in two phases. The first phase took place in Telangana and he Second phase took place in the Seemandhra. The main agenda of all the political parties in the first phase was the formation of the Telangana State. Each party campaigned with a claim that it Was capable of delivering statehood for Telangana and included it in their manifestos. TDP assured that it would introduce the Telangana bill in the Legislature if voted to power. The CPl party too assured its support to Telangana.
- The Praja Rajyam Party- its leader Chiranjeevi stated during the Election campaign that its party would make efforts for the formation of not only the geographical Telangana but also for creating social Telangana. There was no need to doubt the trustworthiness of the Congress Party in the matter related to the formation of a separate Telangana State.
- Y.S.Rajasekhara Reddy stated in the extensive Congress party campaign that to give or not to give Telangana depended on their party. The BJP also in its nationwide campaign stated that if it’s party came to power in the Centre it would grant statehood for Telangana within 100 days. The Telangana Rashtra Samithi Party campaigned that its party was formed for the formation of Telangana State itself.
- The CPM and MIM parties did not take a decision in favor of the formation of the Telangana State. The MIM was restricted and confined to a region in the Hyderabad city and the CPM did not have people’s support in Telangana except in a few places.
- In these circumstances, a Grand Alliance was formed with the aim to defeat Congress and Y.S.Rajasekhara Reddy. Telugu Desam, Telangana Rashtra Samithi, CPM and CPI formed a Grand Alliance to contest elections. The Congress Party and MIM came to an understanding and contested the elections. The Praja Rajyam Party and the BJP contested the Elections separately.
- Contest took place between the Mahakutami or Grand Alliance(TRS etc), Mega Alliance (Praja Rajyam Party), and People’s Alliance or Praja kutami (Congress Party). The TRS Party joined the Grand Alliance in order to teach Congress Party a lesson for delaying the formation of the State; but the Telangana voters remained confused as they did not know which was in favor of Telangana. At the time of this political crisis, the people’s organizations mostly remained silent and the main reasons for this silence were.
- The people’s organizations participating in the elections did not come to a favorable opinion on the Elections
- Some people’s organizations were against the injustices done by TDP to the Telangana people
- The Grand Alliance of the TDP, TRS, CPI and CPM was opposed by the people
- TRS Party lost some its credibility owing to its opaque politics
- All Parties including TDP approved of the Telangana issue.
- It is for these reasons that the people’s organizations became neutral and ineffective at the time of the Elections. The uncertainty of the people and the silence of the people’s organizations turned to votes and resulted in victory for the Congress Party.
- While the polling was coming too close in the Telangana region, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy in an Election Meeting at Nandyal stated that if the Congress Party is defeated and the Grand Alliance comes to power in the State and the formation of the Telangana State takes place, it would become necessary to take passports to go to Hyderabad.
- YSR further stated that the Seemandhra region would become a desert without the waters of the rivers Krishna and Godavari and Seemandhra would become a drought region. In this way he spoke, instigating the people and as a responsible Chief Minister he campaigned irresponsibly.
- With his heated campaign both in Telangana and Andhra regions, YSR was able to powerfully influence the people and once again brought the Congress Party to power in the united state ofAP.
