Telangana CM K. Chandrasekhar Rao expects big-margin win in Medak bypoll

As hate speeches, sound and fury fell silent with the end of campaigning for the September 13 polls on Thursday, TRS leadership was confident of repeating its performance in the byelection. All reports indicate that the TRS is ahead of the Congress and the BJP in one of the most fiercely fought first byelection in the new Telangana state.

For Chief Minister and TRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao, who represented the constituency and quit in favour of Gajwel Assembly, “It’s not just the victory, but the margin of victory that matters lest there is a drop in the majority, giving the Opposition a chance to pounce on him.”

Mr Rao has set an ambitious target of 4 to 5 lakh vote victory margin. Byelections were necessitated following Mr Rao’s resignation from Medak Lok Sabha. Mr Rao won the Medak Lok Sabha seat by 3,97,029 votes.

The TRS has fielded business magnate Kotha Prabhakar Reddy to take on 13 candidates in the fray, but the main opponents will be BJP’s Thoorpu Jayaprakash Reddy, who quit the Congress, and Congress nominee, Vakiti Sunitha Laxma Reddy.

Mr Prabhakar Reddy, Mr Jayaprakash Reddy and Ms Sunita Laxma Reddy are confident of winning. While Mr Rao and other senior TRS leaders, including bypoll in-charge and irrigation minister T. Harish Rao, campaigned on behalf of party, BJP national leaders, including Union ministers Prakash Javadekar, Sadananda Gowda and others, toured the constituency.

Surprisingly, Congress top brass including Digvijay Singh, stayed away. Says Mr Harish Rao, campaign in charge for TRS in Medak, "We have already won it. Nearly 2 lakh people turned up for Chief Minister public meeting. But there were not even 2000 people for BJP Union ministers' and Congress meetings. BJP and Congress will lose deposits. We will win by a bigger majority this time."

Predicting second position for Congress, Mr Rao said BJP committed self goal by fielding "Telangana drohi" (Telangana traitor) Mr Jagga Reddy. "There is no chance for BJP or Congress. People are with KCR and TRS."