TRS staring at landslide victory

Hyderabad: Caretaker Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao-led Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) appears to have swept the assembly polls in Telangana if the trends hold good for at least another couple of hours on Tuesday.

Though several rounds of counting remain, the trends show that the TRS is leading in at least 87 of the 119 seats. The Congress is at a distant second with 22 hard fought victories, at around 1 pm. Andhra Pradesh CM N. Chandrababu Naidu-led Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has a lead only in two seats, while the other two alliance partners--Communist Party of India (CPI) and Telangana Jana Samithi (TRS)--of the ‘Praja Kutami’ or people’s front, have no leads yet.

Key members of the TRS, including Rao, his son, K.T. Rama Rao and nephew Harish Rao are leading with big margins in their respective constituencies. Celebrations began as early as 9.30 am in the TRS office while the Congress office bore a deserted look.

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The Congress, which appears to have lost crucial seats, levelled allegations of Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) tampering and other serious charges.

“Grateful, indebted & Humbled. Thanks Telangana for keeping the faith in KCR Garu & giving us another opportunity to serve you,” Rama Rao wrote on Twitter, sharing pictures of celebrations by TRS workers.

Though the election authorities are yet to declare the final results, TRS is already celebrating its return to power on its own and more importantly keeping itself non-allied with either of the national parties in the run up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

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Meanwhile, stalwart leaders like A. Revanth Reddy of the Congress were trailing showing how the TRS had managed to penetrate deep into its opponents’ territory.

TRS banked on its populist and farmer-centric schemes to retain power while the opposition attacked the Rao led party of corruption and family rule. Congress’ inability to resolve its internal problems like bickering among senior leaders and letting Naidu turn into the alliance’s mascot, went against it, according to analysts and political leaders.