Chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) fended off the insurgent challenge of the Congress party to retain power in Telangana, cementing his reputation as tour de force in the newest Indian state’s politics.

TRS collected the support of nearly every section of the state’s electorate to defeat the Congress.

In the end, KCR’s largesse — freely distributing sops including double bed room houses for the poor, agricultural loan waiver, unemployment doles for the poor, piped drinking water in villages, rejuvenation of village tanks and crop insurance scheme for farmers — in rural Telangana proved insurmountable to the opposition.

His credentials as the ‘creator’ of Telangana thanks to his agitations also overshadowed the Congress’ objections over his style of functioning and allegations of corruption.

As our columnist Kingshuk Nag put it: KCR has pursued keenly his bête noire Chandrababu Naidu’s (chief minister of Andhra) strategy of promoting Hyderabad as an attractive investment destination by inviting businessmen from all over to set up shop in the city.

This has kept the brand equity of Telangana intact. At the same time he began promoting Telangana culture – festivals, dances and food – in the new state to give the impression of it being unique and to underscore how different it was from Andhra Pradesh.”

This strategy seems to have worked beautifully for the TRS. The party has bagged 87 seats compared with Congress’ 22, according to the latest data available.

KCR was confident of winning the polls. Even he would not have expected such a massive win.