Hyderabad: Fresh from a tour of Karnataka, a group of observers from the Telugu Desam (TD) is of the opinion that even if the Congress wins the largest number of seats in the forthcoming Karnataka Assembly elections scheduled for May 5, it is unlikely to win a majority. The consensus among these observers seems to be that the Congress will win approximately 100 seats in the 224-member Assembly.
The group of observers, comprising senior TD leaders, was sent to Karnataka to gauge the pulse of the voters, and has come back with the report that according to the veteran leaders' assessment, if the Congress is restricted to 100 seats or thereabouts, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will support the Janata Dal (S) and stake a claim to form the government.
In the 2013 Karnataka elections, the Congress won 122 seats, while the BJP and JD (S) won 40 seats each. Similarly, the impending elections will witness a three-cornered fight between the Congress, BJP and JD (S). While political experts feel the Congress will retain power, the BJP is very confident of coming to power, while JD (S) is not contesting all the seats.
Against this background, and based on the information they have gathered, the TD observers feel the BJP's plan is that if it wins about 80 seats and JD (S) retains its 40 seats, it will ally with the JD (S) to form the government. The BJP leadership, too, is of the strong opinion that the Congress may not get an absolute majority to form the government.
Meanwhile, TD has called on the Telugu population living in Karnataka to not vote for the BJP, "for betraying Andhra Pradesh", in a reference to the BJP's lack of support for the demand for special status for AP.
