In 2019, the Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) had won 9 of the 17 seats. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won four seats, Congress 3 and Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM won the lone seat in Hyderabad.
Also read: Asaduddin Owaisi: Do it, who's stopping you – AIMIM chief hits back at BJP leader Navneet Rana's '15 seconds' comment
The match on May 13 will be closely watched for several reasons. One, a resurgent Congress, would like to repeat its November 2023 election victory. The Congress won 64 of the 119 seats in Telangana, ending the 10-year rule of K Chandrasekhar Rao-led BRS. Second, the BRS, for its part, is fighting a battle for survival after repeated setbacks following its defeat in the 2023 parliamentary elections.
Third, Telangana is crucial for the BJP because of its Mission South and the target of 400 seats for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. While Telangana is the only state in the south, apart from Karnataka , where the BJP won seats in 2019, the saffron party also recorded an increase in its vote share to around 14 percent.
Triangle match
The Congress Party is counting on the six guarantees it promised last year in the run-up to the parliamentary elections. Four of these guarantees have been fulfilled. The party has also appointed leaders from other parties to increase the number of seats from three seats in 2019. Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, who is leading the Congress campaign, has promised to take the party's tally to double digits.
Former Prime Minister and BRS chief KCR campaigned in a bus across the 17 seats in the state. KCR was banned from campaigning for two days by the Election Commission of India for using offensive language.
Also read: Telangana news: Konda Vishweshwar Reddy, BJP's richest Lok Sabha candidate takes pride in cleaning school toilets
The BJP is dependent on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who campaigned extensively in Telangana. In fact, the Prime Minister is holding rallies in Telangana on May 10, a day before the last day of campaigning for the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha elections. Prime Minister and Home Minister Amit Shah have already addressed more than half a dozen rallies in the state
So, Telangana is all set for a three-way battle between the BJP, Congress and BRS on May 13. Telangana's seventeen seats include Hyderabad, Adilabad, Peddapalli, Karimnagar, Nizamabad, Medak, Malkajgiri, Secunderabad, Chevella, Mahbubnagar. , Nalgonda, Nagarkurnool, Bhuvanagiri, Warangal, Mahbubabad, Khammam, Zahirabad
Important matches
The main contests in Telangana are in Hyderabad, Secunderabad, Karim Nagar and Chevella constituencies.
In Hyderabad, the BJP has fielded classical dancer and entrepreneur Madhavi Latha against sitting MP and AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi. Hyderabad has been an AIMIM stronghold and Owaisi has won the seat for four terms since 2004. Before 2014, Owaisi's father Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi represented Hyderabad in the Lok Sabha for six terms.
In Secunderabad, the BJP has fielded a sitting MP and Union Minister G. Kishan Reddy for the third time. Reddy is contesting against T Padma Rao Goud of BRS and Danam Nagender of Congress.
Also read: 'Little room for further gains': Bernstein report as NDA eyes over 400 seats in 2024 Lok Sabha elections
In Karimnagar, former BJP state chief and sitting MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar is contesting against BRS's B Vinod Kumar. In the 2019 elections, Bandi won the Karimnagar seat by nearly 90,000 votes. The Congress has unseated Velichala Rajender Rao.
BJP's richest candidate
In Chevella, Konda Vishweshwar Reddy, the BJP's richest candidate across the country so far, is pitted against Congress Member of Parliament (MP) G Ranjith Reddy and BRS's Kasani Gnaneshwar Mudiraj. Konda Reddy won the seat in 2014 as a BRS candidate but lost in 2019 as a Congress candidate.
As many as 96 Lok Sabha constituencies across 10 states and union territories will go to polls on May 13 in phase four of the Lok Sabha elections. Apart from Telangana, all 25 seats will be in Andhra Pradesh, 13 seats in Uttar Pradesh, 11 in Maharashtra, eight in West Bengal, eight in Madhya Pradesh, five in Bihar, four each in Jharkhand and Odisha, and one seat in Jammu and Kashmir will also vote on May 13.
Unlock a world of benefits! From insightful newsletters to real-time inventory tracking, breaking news and a personalized news feed – it's all here, just a click away! Log in now!
View all political news and updates on DailyExertNews. Download the Mint News app for daily market updates and live business news.
. or less
Published: May 10, 2024 11:48 AM IST