"Of course! BRS leaders are in touch with us": Congress leader Renuka Chowdhury

On being asked if BRS leaders are in touch with the Congress party, Renuka Chowdhury told ANI "Of course! Today's politics is like that. They are in touch with us. Sometimes they take away ours (MLAs), and sometimes theirs come here."

Latest trends show Congress inching closer to the halfway mark in Telangana, leading on 58 seats while BRS is leading on 33, BJP on 7 and CPI on 1.

"I had been saying for more than a year because we tapped into the pulse of the public. We understood that a big change is going to come and that is what is happening. Victory is ours, I am very confident. People were tired of BRS. BJP and BRS are one - everyone understood it. They also understand the dangerous role that AIMIM played. I think AIMIM, Owaisi has suffered the biggest loss in this game. People understood the truth behind the wrong step he took at the national level. It is unfortunate because I had always considered him to be an intelligent man. When Congress contests unitedly, no force in the country can stand against us," Renuka Chowdhury added.

n being asked if party MLAs will be shifted to Bengaluru as buses stationed outside Hyderabad's Taj Krishna, Congress leader and Karnataka Minister Rahim Khan said, "If that situation comes, then party high command will decide."

Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar who is in Telangana as an AICC observer on Sunday spoke about the possibility of MLA poaching and said that not even a single MLA or candidate will break.

TPCC Vice President Kiran Kumar Chamala also spoke on the MLA poaching issue in Telangana and said that the party's MLAs will not be provoked.

"It's not the trend what we see this morning, these are the waves and positive vibrations in Telangana. The 6 guarantees that Sonia Gandhi has promised to the people of Telangana have turned the tide towards us. Poaching is one of the main agenda of KCR. We have taken some measurements. But after seeing the trends, we don't think it is needed. At least we'll have 80-plus seats. Our President Revanth Reddy is also leading. Everything is under control and our MLAs will not be provoked," TPCC Vice President said.

Congress supporters were seen bursting firecrackers and raising slogans outside the residence of state party chief Revanth Reddy in Hyderabad.

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao was trailing from Kamareddy behind state Congress president A Revanth Reddy by over 2,000 votes after the first round of counting.

Since the formation of the State in the year 2014, BRS has been holding power with KCR as its chief minister.

As per ECI data State Congress chief Revanth Reddy was seen to be leading from Kodangal seat.

The fate of 2,290 candidates from 109 parties including the national and regional parties will be revealed as the counting proceeds. The contestants include 221 women and one transgender. A total of 103 legislators are re-contesting this time, most of them from the ruling BRS.

A clear picture of the result is likely to emerge by noon.

Telangana went to vote on November 30. In 2018, BRS (then Telangana Rashtra Samithi) won 88 of the 119 seats and had a 47.4 per cent vote share. The Congress came a distant second with 19 seats. (ANI)