Telangana may see direct fight between TRS, Cong

Naveen S Garewal

Tribune News Service

Hyderabad, November 13

The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) has adopted an aggressive posture after the release of the first list of 65 candidates by the Congress, which is part of the maha katumba (grand alliance) in the poll-bound state.

KT Rama Rao (KTR), son of the Chief Minister and a state cabinet minister, has said that the December 7 poll will be a direct contest between the TRS and the Congress-led Opposition. On Rao’s remark that the BJP was nowhere in the reckoning, senior leaders of the party, including state BJP president Dr K Laxman, said Telangana was headed for a hung verdict with the BJP improving upon its tally of five seats in the dissolved Assembly.

Both TRS and Congress that are hoping for a direct contest in these elections have refuted the BJP claims, saying that the saffron party was likely to fare much worse than during the 2014 elections. “They had five seats (in the dissolved Assembly). They may get one or two this time,” AICC Telangana in-charge RC Khuntia said, while KTR thinks no differently.

BJP spokesman GVL Narasimha Rao said the party was being underrated.