HYDERABAD: Shattering BRS's dream for hitting a hat trick, leading in 67 seats as counting of votes was underway across the state on Sunday.
With 119 seats up for grabs, the gap between the national party and the BRS was widening as the latter was leading only in 36 segments, even as party supremo and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao was trailing in one of the two seats he had contested from. BJP and AIMIM were leading in 8 and 3 seats, respectively.
The Congress won two seats in Aswaraopet and Yellandu in Khammam district. The Congress is going to sweep the entire erstwhile Khammam district. As per the trends available now, the Congress has easily crossed the magic figure to form the first Congress government in separate Telangana. The simple majority mark to form government in the southern state is 60 seats.
Surprisingly, BJP candidates are leading in Nirmal, Mudhole, Sirpur and Adilabad segments in erstwhile Adilabad district. This is the first time that the BJP candidates are winning from Adilabad district. Though, BJP won Adilabad Lok Sabha in 2019 elections, the party never won in Assembly segments.
It is indeed a keen triangular fight in Kamardddy Assembly segment in the erstwhile Nizamabad district. BJP candidate Venakta Ramana Reddy is giving tough fight to both Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and TPCC chief A Revanth Reddy in the segment. The leads are changing in every round. When the reports last came in, Congress candidate Revanth Reddy was leading by 2,000 votes over Chandraskehar Rao. Whoever wins from the segment, the victory margin will be very less.
In Huzurabad, BJP candidate and former Health Minister E Rajender is trailing. BRS candidate Padi Kaushik Reddy is leading in Huzurabad. Kaushik Reddy threatened voters before the polls that he would die by suicide, if he is defeated. It may be recalled that Rajender after being dismissed from the Cabinet, joined BJP and contested in bypoll. He won on the BJP ticket. Now, Rajender is trailing both in Huzurabad and Gajwel.
Former BJP chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar was trailing behind his nearest BRS rival and minister Gangula Kamalakar by 1145 votes after the first round.
BJP candidate Raja Singh, known for his strong pro-Hindutva opinions, was ahead of BRS candidate Nand Kishore Vyas in Goshamahal constituency by 2891 votes after two rounds pf counting.
Cricketer and Congress pick Mohammed Azharuddin was trailing behind BRS' Mahanti Gopinath in Jubilee Hills segment in the city by 306 votes after the first round.
As there is a Congress wave, several Ministers including Koppula Eshwar, V Srinivas Goud, G Niranjan Reddy, Erraballi Dayakar Rao and Puvvada Ajaya Kumar are trailing. However, Ministers P Sabitha Indra Reddy, G Jagadish Reddy and Talasani Srinivas Yadav are leading.
The ruling BRS faced the wrath of the people and the anti-incumbency factor is clear. The ambitious schemes like 2BHK and Dalit Bandhu proved costly for the ruling party, as it could not satisfy all the people.
The Chandrasekhar Rao-led Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) has been in power since 2014, when Telangana was granted statehood and won the 2018 elections as well.
The Congress had mounted a spirited election campaign with a view to unseat the near decade-old incumbent, even as the BJP also launched a no holds-barred attack against the ruling dispensation.