Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief K Chandrashekar Rao is set to stake claim in forming a government for the second time in the youngest state of the country. The Assembly polls put him in the lead with 88 seats (as of 10 PM Tuesday), out of the total 119 seats in the Vidhan Sabha, with the majority mark at 60.
The Telugu Desam Party-Congress alliance faced a humiliating defeat in the 40-member assembly that voted on December 7, trailed by BJP, AIMIM, and other independent candidates.
How TRS responded
Speaking to the media about his party’s imminent win and performance in the Telangana Assembly polls, incumbent Chief Minister KC Rao said that he would work towards solving the issues faced by the farmers. Rao dedicated the emphatic victory of his party to the people of the state and said the election results would enable it to play a crucial role in national politics, PTI reported.
Phone calls came pouring in from regional leaders across the country congratulating TRS on what is set to be a landslide victory over the Congress-Telugu Desam Party(TDP) alliance and BJP.
The TRS headquarters in Hyderabad was draped in pink as party workers and KCR’s supporters started celebrating the imminent win early Tuesday. Soon after TRS tore ahead of its rivals, KCR’s daughter K Kavitha commended his hard work, saying, “We are seeing the response of the people. The hard work in four and a half years has paid off… Nobody knows Telangana like KCR.”
TRS fixtures
At a press conference on Tuesday, KCR claimed his main goal was to develop living and working conditions for the farmers. “I am happy that my agenda and manifesto have been accepted by the people of the state,” he said, promising to address youth unemployment problems, and aiming to cover all the sections of the society in the state and work for their benefit.
The victory by the largest margin was scored by Harish Rao Thanneeru by over 1.18 lakh votes, in his 6th straight win from Siddipet. Incidentally, this seat was held by his uncle KCR first, and was later retained by Harish since 1985. KCR himself retained his Gajwel assembly constituency by a margin of over 51,000 votes.
How other parties fared
The Congress, which for the first time tied up with long-time rival Chandrababu Naidu, is expected to win only 39 of the state’s 119 seats, predicted exit polls. TDP said they need to analyse and introspect on the grouping’s “failure” in the elections.
AIMIM leader Akbaruddin Owaisi won from Chandrayangutta constituency for the fifth time in a row, defeating his nearest BJP rival Syed Shehjadi by a margin of over 80,000 votes. Others including independent candidates are in lead in 10 seats as of 4 PM.
The win suggests that TRS may have hit the bull’s eye with KCR’s call for an early dissolution of the Telangana assembly paid off and the decision to go in for polls ahead of schedule. The assembly election in Telangana was initially supposed to be held in the middle of 2019.
Prarthana Mitra is a staff writer at Qrius