Hyderabad, May 16 (IANS) Performing beyond expectations, the Congress party swept the Lok Sabha polls in Andhra Pradesh Saturday, winning 33 out of 42 seats in the state.
The ruling party bagged the majority of seats despite facing a four-party alliance led by main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the newly formed Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) of superstar Chiranjeevi.
The Congress, which won 29 seats in 2004, not only retained most of them but also wrested six seats held by the TRS, Communist Party of India (CPI) and Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), all constituents of the TDP-led alliance.
The party's performance in the Lok Sabha polls is better than its show in the assembly elections. It has won 155 seats in the 294-member assembly.
The TDP-led alliance won eight seats in the Lok Sabha. The TDP bagged six, one more than its tally in the last elections. The tally of TRS came down from six to two as it suffered reverses in its strongholds in Telangana. The CPI and CPI-M, which won a seat each in 2004, drew a blank this time.
PRP failed to open its account in the Lok Sabha polls. The Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) retained the Hyderabad Lok Sabha seat.
Barring union minister Renuka Chowdary, who lost in Khammam, all top candidates of the Congress won. They included four central ministers S. Jaipal Reddy, D. Purandareswari, Pannabaka Lakshmi and Pallam Raju.
Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, the son of Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, made his electoral debut by winning Kadapa Lok Sabha seat with a thumping majority.
All India Congress Committee secretary Madhu Yaskhi Goud retained the Nizamabad seat.
U. Arun Kumar retained the Rajhamundry seat, defeating veteran actors U.V. Krishnam Raju of PRP and Murali Mohan of TDP. Industrialist L. Rajagopal was elected again from Vijayawada seat while K. Surya Prakash Reddy, the son of former chief minister K. Vijaybhaskar Reddy, retained Kurnool.
TDP retained the Chittoor seat as its candidate N. Sivaprasad defeated M. Thippeswamy of the Congress. An earlier report had named Thippeswamy as the winner.
The prominent losers include TDP's senior leader K. Yerran Naidu, PRP vice-president T. Devender Goud, PRP general secretary and Chiranjeevi's brother-in-law Allu Aravind and BJP state president Bandaru Dattetreya.
TRS chief K. Chandrasekhara Rao was elected from Mahabubnagar while party candidate and actress Vijayashanti won the Medak seat. TRS candidates lost the remaining seven Lok Sabha constituencies it contested.
CPI failed to retain Nalgonda while the CPI-M candidate was defeated in Araku.
MIM president Asaduddin Owaisi was re-elected from the Hyderabad Lok Sabha seat for a second consecutive term.
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