Telangana assembly elections: TRS, People’s Front explore options to win power if assembly hung

With just a few hours left for the declaration of results of Telangana assembly elections, the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi and Congress-led People’s Front have already begun their efforts to secure power in the event of a hung assembly.

While both the TRS and People’s Front have been expressing confidence that they would win the December 7 assembly elections, they are not taking chances and are exploring various options in case they fall short of absolute majority mark of 60 seats in the 119-member assembly.

The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, which is expected to win at least seven out of eight seats it contested, has said it will extend support to the TRS, though there are reports that the Congress high command also is trying to reach out to its president and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi to seek his party’s help to the People’s Front in forming the next government in Telangana.

However, Owaisi made it clear on Monday that his party would stand by the TRS. In the afternoon, he drove to Pragathi Bhavan, the official residence-cum-camp office of the Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on his Bullet motorbike and held discussions with him for more than two hours.

Though it is not exactly known what transpired between the two, it is learnt both the leaders discussed the situation if no party gets absolute majority in the assembly elections.

Before meeting KCR as the TRS chief is popularly called, the MIM chief tweeted: “Insha Allah, KCR will form the next government on its own and Majlis will stand by him. This is our first step towards the larger goal of nation building.”

As exit polls conducted by various agencies predicted that the Bharatiya Janata Party might spring a surprise by winning more than half-a-dozen seats, the party leadership also indicated that it might support the TRS, provided there was no MIM in the picture. “We shall not ally with the Congress or its alliance. If the TRS distances itself from the MIM, we shall consider supporting it,” state BJP president K Laxman had said.

TRS spokesman Bhanu Prasad, however, rejected the BJP’s offer saying the TRS would form the government on its own and the question of taking support from the BJP or any other party did not arise at all.

The BJP later said Laxman’s comments were misinterpreted. BJP spokesperson K Krishnasagar Rao said the BJP would not support any party in any situation. He said the state BJP president’s comments were taken out of context.

On the other hand, a delegation of the People’s Front leaders approached Governor E S L Narasimhan in the evening and requested him to treat the alliance as a single political entity and give it the opportunity to form the next government in Telangana, if it gets more seats than the TRS in a hung assembly.

In its representation to the Governor, the delegation, led by Congress state president N Uttam Kumar Reddy, said four opposition parties had entered into a pre-poll alliance and contested the elections together under a common agenda which was submitted to the Election Commission as well. After winning the elections, the alliance will collectively form the government and continue as partners, it said.

“We met the Governor to pre-empt any attempt to deny an opportunity to the People’s Front, as is being reported in a section of media,” Reddy said.

With the MIM openly declaring its support to the TRS, the Congress is said to be luring the potential independent candidates who have fair chances of winning elections and take their support if the People’s Front falls short of absolute majority.