Slipping In Andhra - The Times of India

Slipping In Andhra - The Times of India: "The by-elections in Telangana should serve as a wake-up call for the Congress. The Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) swept the polls winning 11 of the 12 seats. The BJP candidate, supported by the TRS, won the other seat defeating state Congress chief D Srinivas. Add to this the support Jaganmohan Reddy has received for his odarpu yatra, which is pregnant with political overtones. Despite an unwritten gag order from the Congress leadership, MLAs have participated in the Jagan yatra. The situation doesn't augur well for the Congress. Andhra Pradesh under YSR had become the party's citadel in the south. The remarkable success in two consecutive assembly and Parliament elections had helped the Congress immensely. The party won 29 and 33 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats from the state in the 2004 and 2009 general elections, a tally unmatched in other states. This state of unrivalled Congress supremacy is now under threat."