After spearheading the separate Telangana movement and leading his party to significant victories since 2014, a third term in office eluded Bharat Rasthra Samithi supremo K Chandrasekhar Rao, who lost to the Congress in the legislative assembly polls. This was BRS’ first defeat since the birth of Telangana in 2014.

The Congress won 64 seats in the 119-member Telangana assembly, while the BRS got only 39.

A week, it is said, is a long time in politics and, by that yardstick, nine-and-a-half years is an aeon. That is the anti-incumbency challenge that the BRS could not overcome.

In an extensive poll campaign, the party tried to highlight all its welfare schemes for the poor. However, the implementation of some schemes had given an inordinate amount of power to MLAs to decide on the distribution of funds, leading to allegations of discrimination as well as corruption.

KCR’s son and IT minister KT Rama Rao insisted that job creation and GDP growth in Telangana have been the highest in the country, but many sections complained that getting employment has been an issue.

Ahead of the elections, KTR had advised the Chief Minister to bring in fresh faces and not give tickets to nearly 30 MLAs, against whom anti-incumbency seemed to be building.

KCR did warn these MLAs to buck up and improve their performance but ended up giving poll tickets to all of them. The result: most of these seats went to the Congress.

On the other hand, 9 out of the 10 leaders who represented BRS for the first time emerged victorious.

To make a comeback, the party will also have to find a way to connect to the rural voters. Nearly half of the BRS’ 39 seats came from the Hyderabad region, where KTR’s pitch for development and IT parks seemed to resonate with the voters.

Congress staked claim to form the government on the night of the counting itself as experts say the party has several factions and is jittery despite winning a clear majority. The Telangana result was the only silver lining in an otherwise dismal day for the Congress, which lost in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan and failed to dislodge the BJP from Madhya Pradesh as well.

Shah Rukh Khan is currently making headlines for his upcoming film Dunki. Glimpses from the Rajkumar Hirani directorial including the trailer that arrived today in the form of Dunki Drop 4, have been garnering attention. Amidst the anticipation, SRK was clicked at the airport. 

Katrina Kaif and Salman Khan have been close friends for the longest time. They share a very warm bond and that reflects every time they pair up on the big screen. Their latest release, Tiger 3 has garnered praise and gotten everyone talking.

In an exclusive conversation with Filmfare, the actress shared her equation with the star and her experience of working with him. She revealed, ” The wonderful thing about Salman and my equation over the years as professionals is that it has evolved. When I started with him, I was a complete newcomer. He had done more than 50 plus films and this was my second film. So that has now evolved over the years, right? As an actor, I found my voice. I found my feet. I found my place and I saw the equation change on set. There was more ease. Now there’s more. We’re more spontaneous in the scenes. There’s more fluidity, there’s more of an exchange, and I think that’s one way in which our dynamic has changed throughout the years. And with Salman, the way he is as a person, he does not come with fixed ideas. You have to be fluid in the scene and he’ll just surprise you and take it somewhere completely different. You have to be prepared for that. So if you come with a fixed notion and you’re not movable, then you’re not going to find that synergy. You have to come with an open mind and you have to kind of feed off each other. I think with him, every day is unexpected.” 

The actress was all smiles as she spoke of the joy that the Tiger franchise has brought to her and how it’s always fun to work with Salman Khan.