In Telangana, BRS and Congress are locked in a high-stakes battle

The Bharat Rashtra Samithi is locked in a high-stakes electoral battle with the Congress in Telangana, nearly 10 years after it first came to power in the newly-created state.

The 2023 Assembly elections in Telangana were held on November 30. The state registered a turnout of 71.34%. The counting of votes will be held on Sunday.

In 2018, Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao’s Bharat Rashtra Samithi won 88 seats and the Congress-led alliance 21 seats. The Telangana Assembly has a total of 119 seats and 60 seats are required for a majority. Several Congress MLAs subsequently defected to what was then known as the Telangana Rashtra Samithi. This time, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi is facing a stiff challenge from the Congress, which was a dominant political force in the erstwhile united Andhra Pradesh.

For the Congress, Telangana serves a chance to come to power in another southern state after it wrest control of Karnataka from the BJP in May. Understandably, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi, despite being an Opposition party at the Centre, views the Congress as its main rival in the state. Therefore, the Rao-led party has refused to join the INDIA Opposition bloc, which includes the Congress.

• The BJP has historically had little success in Telangana. However, buoyed by...

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