Hyderabad: Though the state is yet to be divided constitutionally, the voter in Telangana will obviously vote for the party that he or she thinks was sympathetic to the cause of a separate state.
But just which party is that? As the 2.82 crore electorate goes to the polls on Wednesday, they will have to decide between the Congress, which as the party in power at the Centre granted the state of Telangana, the Telangana Rashtra Samiti, which fought determinedly for a separate state, and the Telugu Desam-BJP alliance that backed the Telangana Bill.
Across the 119 Assembly and 17 Lok Sabha constituencies in the region there is no one party that dominates — the variations are from district to district, from the HMDA belt to the Khammam Singareni belt, and from north Telangana to south Telangana.
Opinions swing between a hung house with no party able to reach the half way mark of 60 Assembly seats, or the TRS winning an absolute majority. Intelligence reports suggest that the TRS will emerge as the single largest party, followed by the Congress, the difference being five to eight Assembly seats.
The TD-BJP combine appears to be sandwiched between the TRS and the Congress in a majority of the seats, and is likely to be marginalised.
Out of the 17 Lok Sabha seats in the region, the keen fight between the Congress and TRS will be seen in Nizamabad, Zaheerabad, Karimnagar, Pedapalli, Warangal, Mahbubabad, Mahbubnagar, and Chevella. The Congress appears to be comfortable in Nalgonda and Bhongir Lok Sabha constituencies, and the TRS is comfortable in Medak and Nagarkurnool.
The TD-BJP combine is pitted against the YSR Congress in Khammam, the Congress in Secunderabad and Malkajagiri, and the TRS in Adilabad. The Majlis looks like retaining the Hyderabad seat with ease this time too.
If the Congress does manage to bag the maximum number of seats this time, it will be due to its candidates who are traditionally strong in poll management techniques.
If the TRS makes major inroads as expected, it will be due to the ‘Telangana sentiment’ for which TRS chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao can take all the credit as the party’s candidates are ill-versed in election management.
