Now that the assembly elections in Telangana are over and the Congress has come to power defeating the Bharat Rashtra Samithi, the focus has now shifted to the Lok Sabha elections in the state, which are likely to be held in the last week of March.
There are only 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana and all the three major political parties – the Congress, the BRS and the Bharatiya Janata Party are hoping to put up a good show by winning maximum number of MP seats.
Interestingly, all the three parties, which have started preparations for the Lok Sabha elections, are aiming at winning 12 MP seats, so that they can play a significant role at the Centre.
The Congress party led by chief minister A Revanth Reddy, which is fresh from the victory of the assembly elections, has set the target of a minimum of 12 seats.
According to the internal surveys conducted by the party, it is not very difficult if the party puts up a combined effort as it has done during the assembly elections.
A survey has revealed that the Congress can win all the seats, except Hyderabad which will be retained by the AIMIM; Secunderabad, Adilabad and Nizamabad, which will also be retained by the BJP and Medak seat, which will go to the BRS.
For the BRS, it is a do or die battle, as it has to win at least 10-12 seats if it wants to bounce back in the state politics. If the party can win these seats, it will survive; otherwise, it might witness exodus of the BRS MLAs into the Congress.
For the BJP, it is question of survival. The party, which has improved its tally of MLAs from one to eight in the just concluded assembly elections, is hoping to win at least 6-8 MP seats, though it is aiming at 12. It hopes to cash in on the Modi factor which might help the party improve its performance in the LS polls.