The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday hinted at the possibility that it would support the Telangana Rashtra Samithi in case it falls short of the majority mark in the Assembly elections held on Friday, PTI reported. The votes will be counted on Tuesday.
BJP national spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao said most exit polls point towards the Telangana Rashtra Samithi retaining power in the state and they are “likely to turn out to be right”. Rao said it was difficult to comment on what the BJP would do in case of a hung Assembly as one does not know what the shortfall for TRS will be.
Rao told PTI that the BJP will “have nothing to do with” the Congress or the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen. He hinted that the BJP may not be averse to forging an alliance with the ruling party to keep the Congress out of the state.
According to the exit polls, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi is projected to win 66 seats in 119-member Assembly, and the Congress 37.
“...BJP certainly wants a stable government and in case of a hung Assembly we will see who seeks our support, our support will certainly be not available for the Congress or the AIMIM,” Rao said.
Rao also said that the BJP would be happy to play the role of an Opposition party. “We have fought the [Telangana] elections both against the Congress and the TRS, so we would be happy to be an Opposition party...to play the role of a constructive opposition party,” he said. “That’s the role people will give us and we are happy to perform that role.”
Rao told PTI that the party expects its seat tally and vote share to “go up substantially” in this year’s polls. The party had won just five seats in 2014.
Meanwhile, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi said the Telangana Rashtra Samithi will form the next government in Telangana on its own strength and his party will stand by it. Owaisi said he will meet the caretaker chief minister later on Monday, adding that this was the “first step towards a larger goal of nation building.”
The Telangana Rashtra Samithi and the BJP fought the elections this year alone, while the Congress, Telugu Desam Party, Telangana Jana Samiti and the Communist Party of India formed a grand alliance.
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