With the Congress leading in 65 out of the 119 seats in Telangana on Sunday morning as per initial trends, all eyes are on A. Revanth Reddy, the Grand Old Party's face in the state.
The national party was racing ahead of CM K. Chandrasekhar Rao-led Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS), which was leading in 39 seats when the vote counting began. BJP and AIMIM were ahead in six and four seats, respectively.
When the counting began at 8 am, postal ballots taken up first. The simple majority mark to form government in the southern state is 60 seats.
BRS, formerly Telangana Rashtra Samiti, has been in power since 2014, when the state was formed. The party went on to claim victory in the 2018 elections as well. However, a hat-trick seems to be a distant dream with Congress gaining in most seats as per initial trends.
There are 2,290 contestants competing in the elections in the state. Of these, the major leaders in the fray are Chandrasekhar Rao and his minister-son K.T. Rama Rao as well as BJP Lok Sabha MPS Bandi Sanjay Kumar, D. Arvind and Soyam Bapu Rao.
Now with Congress making inroads across the state, all eyes are on TPCC president Revanth Reddy who is likely to be CM if the party wins.
After the exit polls came out in favour of Congress, Reddy took a dig at CM's son Ram Rao in a TV news debate, saying, "I am on merit quota. He is on management quota or NRI quota. Everyone knows KTR as KCR's son. We have nothing to do with KTR. Our political fight is with KCR.”
When asked about CM post, Revanth Reddy had earlier said his party will register victory in 80 constituencies and all those winners are contenders to become the next chief minister.
The Congress is contesting in 118 states with one seat going to its ally CPI. The BRS, going alone in the elections, put up candidates in all 119 constituencies. The BJP fielded 11 candidates and its ally Janasena was given eight seats. Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM is contesting in nine constituencies.