Exit polls and pre-poll surveys have predicted Congress win in Telangana after Thursday, but the party is in no mood to take any chance going by the hectic activity carried out throughout the day.
And not only Congress, the ruling BRS and BJP leaders also sat down to analyse the polling trend and assess whether they stand a chance in terms of the numbers’ game.
For most of Friday, top TPCC leaders got in touch with all the 119 candidates trying to assess the polling turnout and trends. After closely monitoring the voting pattern on Thursday from the War Room at Indira Bhavan, adjacent to Gandhi Bhavan, the top functionaries decided to get its act together.
“Today, I personally called up as many as 40 candidates just to check how the polling went on in their respective constituencies. We want to cross-check the reports that we had received from the 17 Lok Sabha Observers, constituency-level Observers and DCC presidents,” said a senior TPCC leader, who did not want to be identified.
“We want to make sure that none of our potential winning candidates slip out, if the figures are short of touching the magic 60. This attempt is to pre-empt any move by the ruling BRS to lure our leaders,” said another Congress leader, who had extensive discussions with the Central leadership.
The candidates contacted by the State Congress leaders were confident of victory and vouched that there was no way they would even think of moving away from the party. “The entire grassroots cadre had put in their sweat and blood for the victory of the party. How can we ditch them is the refrain from these leaders,” the TPCC functionary said.
“Congress is confident that it will easily sail past the magic figure of 60 and race beyond 75. It will be a landslide victory for the Congress. For the first time after formation of Telangana, voters have openly embraced us and campaigned together with us,” said TPCC vice-president Mallu Ravi.
Revanth centre of attraction
On Friday, TPCC chief A. Revanth Reddy’s residence was a beehive of activity with cadre thronging his place with garlands and bouquets. Several senior leaders too met him and reviewed the voting.
On the other hand, BRS president and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao held a meeting with his close aides to analyse voting trends. Sources said the party leaders exuded confidence that they would scrape through the half way mark with ease. Their reasoning was that if anti-incumbency was at its peak, voter turnout would have better than 2018.
The BJP leadership frankly admitted that they had put a semblance of fight in less than 20 constituencies. “We have feedback that in 15 constituencies, our candidates put in their best and won’t be surprised if we win a good number of seats,” said a BJP leader, who contested the election.
