Assembly election 2018: In TRS-Congress clash, BJP seeks to leave mark in Telangana

Telangana assembly elections 2018: In the state, where chief minister K Chandrasekhara Rao had advanced the elections due to be held along with the Lok Sabha elections next year, had seen an over 73% turnout in the voting on December 7.

Telangana, which held its first assembly election, is likely to see a straight fight between the ruling TRS and the Congress-led opposition alliance amid the BJP’s effort to make it a three-way contest.

Telangana assembly elections : The chief minister and TRS chief K Chandrashekar Rao addresses a public meeting at Suriyapet in Nalgunda district. (PTI File Photo)

Telangana, where chief minister K Chandrasekhara Rao had advanced the elections due to be held along with the Lok Sabha elections next year, had seen an over 73% turnout in the voting on December 7. According to the exit polls, his gamble seems to have paid with a majority likely for his Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) in the 119-member assembly.

Though KCR had sought to catch his adversaries off guard with early elections, the Congress had scrambled back with the four-party Maha Kootami, for which it had roped in its one-time fierce foe, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) of Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu. The other two parties in the grouping are the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS), floated by M. Kodandaram, who was once KCR’s friend in the Telangana movement.

Watch | Watch: Exit polls predict K Chandrasekhar Rao may keep Telangana

While the TRS is contesting all seats, there is some overlap among the grand alliance with the Congress and the TJS contesting more seats than allotted as per their agreement, leading to “friendly fights” in at least eight constituencies.

The Bharatiya Janata Party, which had contested the 2014 polls in alliance with the TDP and had won five seats, is also contesting all the seats while Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) is contesting eight assembly constituencies in Hyderabad and supporting the TRS elsewhere in the state.

Telangana had seen a high-volume, often bitter, campaign with leaders of various parties accusing each other of secret links with their poll adversaries and personal attacks, especially between Owaisi and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, who came to campaign in the state.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress president Rahul Gandhi, BJP president Amit Shah, Andhra chief minister and TDP chief Naidu were among those who had addressed multiple rallies and roadshows held across the state.

While Rahul Gandhi and Naidu came on a common stage for the first time in these polls, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi also addressed a public meeting in her first visit to the state since it came into being in 2014. It was also her only political engagement in the current round of assembly elections.

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Read | Telangana elections exit polls show KCR’s early poll gamble may pay off