Leaders of the Congress-led People's Front in Telangana are all set to meet state Governor ESL Narasimhan around 3.15 pm on Monday to formally inform him that they are a pre-poll alliance, and ask that they must be invited after the results of the Legislative Assembly elections in case they have the numbers to form the next state government. Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President Uttam Kumar Reddy met with Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi on Monday morning and discussed the same.
The People's Front, which comprises the Congress, Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS), Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and CPI, will also ask the Governor to invite them first to form the government, in case of a hung Assembly. The decision was taken at a meeting held at a hotel in the city on Sunday. Telangana TDP President L Ramana, TJS chief Kodandaram and CPI's Chada Venkat Reddy are expected to accompany Uttam Kumar during the meeting.
Meanwhile, in another important development, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) President and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi is expected to meet caretaker Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao a day before the results are to be announced. Owaisi is likely to be accompanied by his brother and incumbent Chandrayangutta MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi. While the two parties have reiterated on several occasions that they have a 'friendly' relationship, they may need to make their alliance official in case the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) fails to get 60 seats, which is the magic number in the 119-member Assembly.
K Chandrasekhar Rao dissolved the Legislative Assembly on September 6, eight months before the government’s term would have ended in May 2019. Observers said that the TRS was keen to go in for early polls as they believed that simultaneous Assembly and Lok Sabha elections may not help them properly highlight welfare and developmental works undertaken during the last four years.
The mandate for this election was to see if the people were happy with the rule of the party after the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh in 2014.
The Election Commission on Saturday announced that 73.20% polling was registered in the Telangana Assembly elections which were held on Friday. The previous elections were held in united Andhra Pradesh in 2014 and Telangana had recorded a turnout of 68.9 percent.
Counting of votes will be taken up on December 11.
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