Scramble for alliance in T’gana before results day

HYDERABAD: A day before the announcement of the Telangana assembly elections results, All India Majlis-e-ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president and Hyderabad member of Parliament Asaduddin Owaisi met Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) president and caretaker chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR), on Monday.

It is learnt that both leaders discussed the likelihood of no party getting an absolute majority in the assembly.

The main challenge to TRS is the Maha Kootami or grand alliance of four parties led by the Congress. The Telugu Desam Party, which is in power in Andhra Pradesh, is part of this alliance, besides the Communist Party of India and the Telangana Jana Samithi.

A delegation of the Maha Kootami met governor E S L Narasimhan on Monday evening, asking that they be treated as a single political entity which should be given the opportunity to form the government in the event of a hung assembly.

Owaisi, who had declared his support for the TRS whilst campaigning for the December 7 state polls, reiterated his support for KCR on social media platform Twitter. “Insha Allah, he 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,” he tweeted on Monday morning.

He visited Pragathi Bhavan, the official residence and office of KCR on his Bullet motorbike in the afternoon. He was unaccompanied and remained there for two hours.