The Bharat Rashtra Samithi of K Chandrasekhar Rao, the state’s two-time Chief Minister, is hoping for a third consecutive term, buoyed by its social welfare programmes that had something for everyone.
As the ‘founding father’ of Telangana – sliced out of Andhra Pradesh in 2014 – the BRS also hopes to have the loyalty points that could see it through in this election.
But the Congress, its morale boosted by the victory in neighbouring Karnataka, has been in fighting mode under its new young chief Revanth Reddy.
The party claims it has closed its gap with the BRS – created after the formation of Telangana and the death of its strongman of undivided Andhra Pradesh YS Rajasekhar Reddy — and is hoping to gain following the BJP’s corruption allegations against the Chief Minister.
The BJP allegations come following Congress claims that the BRS and the BJP are secretly in collusion. The party had taken full advantage of the perception formed after Mr Rao’s daughter, K Kavitha, was not arrested by Central agencies despite her name figuring in the Delhi liquor scam.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement that Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had approached him seeking a spot in the NDA, had added to the Congress’s advantages.
The BJP move to change its state chief Bandi Sanjay with soft-spoken Kishan Reddy on the eve of polls was also a move questioned by many. The party, desperate for a nice in Telangana after the loss of Karnataka, has tied up with Jana Sena of actor-politician Pawan Kalyan.
Chief Minister KCR heads the list of top battles today. He is fighting on two fronts – against Congress’s Revanth Reddy in Kamareddy and the BJP’s Etala Rajender of the BJP in his home turf Gajwel.
The other keenly watched contests would include M Krishna Rao of the BRS versus M Prem Kumar of the Jana Sena Party in Kukatpally; the triangular battle in Malkajgiri between Mynampally Hanumath Rao, who recently switched from the BRS to the Congress, BJP’s N Ramachander and BRS’s M Rajashekhar Reddy.
Telangana is the last of the five states to vote in this round of election that is seen as semi-final before next year’s Lok Sabha polls. The counting of votes for all five states will take place on Sunday.
