The Congress party in Telangana not only suffered a huge defeat in Assembly elections but also faced embarrassment as almost all its top leaders were humbled.
Leaders who were seen as the Chief Ministerial candidate in the event of a Congress-led People's Front victory were also defeated.
K. Jana Reddy, who was Leader of Opposition in the dissolved Assembly, lost in Nagarjunasagar constituency.
Congress Working President Revanth Reddy, whose arrest last week triggered a huge row, failed to retain the Kodangal seat.
A former leader of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), he had joined the Congress early this year and was recently appointed the Working President of the state unit.
Revanth had declared after polling that if he loses he would quit politics. Telangana Rashtra Samithi's P. Narendra Reddy defeated the Congress leader by 9,077 votes.
Another Congress Working President, Ponnam Prabhakar, lost in Karimnagar. Former central Minister Sarve Satyanarayana failed to win from Secunderabad Cantonment. Former Deputy Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Damodar Rajanarasimha lost the election from Andole.
Senior Congress leaders and former Andhra Pradesh Ministers J. Geeta Reddy, D.K. Aruna, Jeevan Reddy, Komatreddy Venkat Reddy, Ponnala Lakshmaiah, Mohammed Ali Shabbir, Konda Surekha, G. Chinna Reddy, N. Janardhan Reddy and Mukesh Goud were all defeated.
--IANS
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