Public meeting to boost TRS campaign ahead of Telangana polls

Hyderabad: Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief and caretaker chief minister of Telangana K. Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) is aiming to expand his election campaign with a large public meeting in Nizamabad district on Wednesday.

The public meeting holds significance for KCR as his daughter, K. Kavitha, is the Nizamabad MP (member of Parliament). KCR will use this platform to launch a string of close to 100 public meetings that he will address ahead of the forthcoming assembly elections.

A senior TRS leader who did not want to be named said that more than 200,000 people are expected to attend Wednesday’s meeting.

Rao had addressed a public meeting at Husnabad in Siddipet district last month after recommending the dissolution of the assembly on 6 September. This had precipitated early polls in the state, which must be held within six months after the legislature is dissolved.

“KCR will tour all the assembly constituencies in the coming days. He is a crowd-puller we are banking on to win the coming elections. Unlike the TRS, the opposition alliance has no credible face which is our biggest advantage,” said the TRS leader mentioned above.

The Congress, Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Communist Party of India (CPI) and the Telangana Jana Samithi have formed a grand alliance to take on the TRS in the forthcoming polls. This is unlike the last election in 2014 when all the parties contested separately. The TRS got a simple majority by winning 63 of the total 119 assembly seats.

Later, many MLAs (members of legislative assembly) from the Congress, TDP, YSR Congress Party (the principal opposition in the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh) and smaller parties defected to the TRS, increasing its tally to about 90.

However, this time, the Congress is banking on the TDP’s vote share, which was substantial in certain assembly seats, especially in the areas surrounding Hyderabad.

The TRS is, however, confident of sweeping the elections. Kavitha did not give any numbers, but said that her party would “sweep” the assembly elections. Her brother and IT minister of the caretaker government, K.T. Rama Rao, called the opposition alliance a “Maha Ghatia-bandhan” and said the TRS will also get majority of the seats in and around Hyderabad—24 seats in the Greater Hyderabad area.