Parties jittery over poll outcome in T

Hyderabad: With Telangana voters locked their choice on Wednesday in 17 Lok Sabha and 119 Assembly constituencies, political parties despite their bold posturing are not sure of the outcome.

Political parties are literally shivering and making last minute efforts to minimise damage and improve their tally, beyond their own internal assessment.

Political analysts say that if the polling percentage reaches an all-time high, the TRS would sweep the polls and if the voter turn-out remains modest, the outcome would be anybody's guess.

TRS chief K Chandrasekhara Rao claimed that his party would sweep the polls and form the first government in Telangana. He is confident of getting 90 out of the 119 Assembly seats. The Congress is equally confident of forming government in Telangana. Meanwhile, the TDP- BJP combine is confident of a good fight.

The TRS chief, who wishes to be first chief minister of the new state, campaigned extensively in all the 10 Telangana districts in the last fortnight. The party is confident of winning a majority number of seats in North Telangana, consisting of Warangal, Karimnagar, Medak, Nizamabad and Adilabad.

However, party sources said that their leaders were worried about five south Telangana districts, where more than half of the total seats, 65 precisely, are situated.

Probably, knowing pretty well the party's weaknesses, the TRS chief gave tickets to those who shifted loyalties recently.The Congress on the other hand is confident of winning its share of seats in all the 10 districts and of crossing the magic figure 60 on its own.

Political analysts pointed out that the party had failed to cash in on the creation of Telangana, thanks to a leadership crisis. Senior leaders including Jana Reddy, Uttam Kumar Reddy and others were confined to their respective constituencies. The party got a much needed boost only after Sonia and Rahul Gandhi campaigned in the region.

Of the 10 assembly seats in Khammam, the TRS is giving a good fight to Congress ' CPI and TDP ' BJP combine in just three seats -- Kothagudem, Wyra and Illendu.

In Nalgonda, TRS is giving good fight in at least half of the 12 Assembly seats -- Aleru, Miryalguda, Bhongir, Devarakonda, Suryapet and Nalgonda. Ranga Reddy is another nutshell for TRS.

However, the party is leaving no stone unturned to prove its presence in the district. With the entry of three siting TDP MLAs K Harishwar Reddy, P Mahendar Reddy and K S Ratnam into the party, the party hopes to win at least three to five of the 14 assembly seats in the district.