'KCR Is Approaching Congress Candidates...': DK Shivakumar Confident Of Telangana Victory

New Delhi: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Saturday alleged that the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) chief and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao tried to lure the Congress candidates in the state to form the government. Shivakumar also said it that he can manage winning Congress MLAs in all five states. "We have the information that they (BRS) are trying to trap us. Our candidates have told us that the CM (KCR) himself has approached them,” DK said.

He also expressed his confidence that the Congress would win a comfortable majority in the state. “I’m going there as part of my party work. The Telangana team was with us during the Karnataka elections. That’s why I’m also going. We’ll see what happens after the results. There is no problem, no threat. We have confidence. Our party will win comfortably,” he said.

Another Congress leader, Renuka Chowdhury, claimed that she and other leaders received calls from several BRS leaders who were willing to join the Congress if the situation required. “They (BRS) took 12 of our MLAs last time. They took our people last time but this time they have to be careful that their people do not come to us. Our leaders are getting calls, I also got calls asking if we need their help. They are ready to join us if that’s the situation. They have to be careful that they do not lose their leaders,” Renuka Chowdhury told ANI.

According to the exit polls on Friday, the Congress is likely to form the government in Telangana and the ruling BRS would fail to get the majority after ruling the youngest state of India for 10 years. The poll predicted that the Congress vote share would increase to 42 per cent, while the BRS vote share would decrease to 36 per cent and the BJP vote share would be 14 per cent. It also predicted that the AIMIM would get 3 per cent votes and others 5 per cent.

The voting for the 119-seat Telangana assembly took place on Thursday, and the state recorded a voter turnout of 71.34 per cent. In 2018, the BRS (then Telangana Rashtra Samithi) won 88 seats with a 47.4 per cent vote share. The Congress was the second largest party with 19 seats.