Lok Sabha election 2019: In Telangana, TRS is a mighty force to reckon with

Fresh from a win in Assembly elections, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi is on a high while the defection-hit Congress will go alone in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections

Telangana will witness the Lok Sabha election just months after the ruling TRS won the assembly polls held earlier than scheduled in the state with a massive margin.

Telangana will witness the Lok Sabha election just months after the ruling TRS won the assembly polls held earlier than scheduled in the state with a massive margin. (PTI file photo)

The defection-hit Congress party will go alone in the upcoming parliamentary election in Telangana and contest all the 17 Lok Sabha seats after the failure of the Maha Kootami (grand alliance) experiment in the assembly polls. The party, which had won just 19 out of 119 assembly seats in Telangana, is desperate to win at least half a dozen MP seats in the Lok Sabha elections to retain its identity in the state. Its ally Telugu Desam Party (TDP) won only two.

The Congress, however, emerged as a force to reckon with in terms of vote share at 32.32% even as the TRS polled 47.4%. Experts have said the realisation of chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s grand plans are unlikely in 2019 if the Congress is allowed a strong edifice.

The BJP may find it even tougher in the Telugu-speaking state, where it won only one of the 17 Lok Sabha seats in 2014. In the assembly elections, the BJP’s number came down to just one from the five seats it won in the previous election.

Here is what you need to know about the state ahead of the Lok Sabha election 2019:

*Polling date: April 11

*Ruling party: Telangana Rastra Samithi

* No of Lok Sabha seats in Telangana: 17

* Number of voters: 2.80 crore

* Voter turnout in 2014: 73.2%

* Number of assembly seats: 119

* Party wise break of assembly seats: TRS-88, Congress-19, TDP-2; MIM-7, BJP-1, Independents-2

* Key leaders across parties: K. Chandrasekhar Rao, KT Rama Rao, Kavitha and Harish Rao from TRS; S Jayapal Reddy, actor Vijayashanti and Renuka Chowdary from Congress; Asaduddin Owaisi of MIM.

Key issues

Telangana sentiment

Performance of KT Rama Rao, the son of chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, as TRS working president in the 2019 Lok Sabha election which will determine the legacy transfer from the father to his son

Issues concerning Muslims who constitute more than 12% of the state’s population and deciding force in Hyderabad

Politics of communal divide to be pursued by MIM and BJP