The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Poll results leave TRS despondent

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Saturday, Mar 24, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Poll results leave TRS despondent

Special Correspondent

Congress, TDP in jubilant mood

HYDERABAD: A day after the tension-packed polling and counting that marked the Legislative Council elections from the Assembly quota, it was time for jubilation among political parties barring the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) on Friday.

The TRS continued to smart under the unexpected defeat of its second candidate and ponder over what had gone wrong. There was further trouble when senior party leader A. Narendra said the defeat showed the party had lost control over the legislators.

Jubilant scenes were witnessed in the Congress with the election of all its 20 candidates. Newly elected MLCs met Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy and PCC chief K. Keshava Rao. CPI MPs Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy and Aziz Pasha also called on Dr. Keshav Rao.

"Though one vote by Chitturi Bapineedu was not counted and another vote declared invalid, the Congress candidates triumphed," Dr. Keshava Rao said and added that the TRS had found a new ally in BJP. "And everybody knows what the new friend did to TRS."

Plea to EC

Dr. Keshava Rao urged the Election Commission to permit counting of votes for the Council elections from the Local Authorities Constituencies (LAC) and withhold results from places where complaints were being investigated.

Hugs and pats

The mood was equally jubilant in Telugu Desam office. Legislators and others were seen hugging, patting each other's backs and shaking hands as they celebrated what looked like a seemingly impossible task of getting the party's fifth candidate elected.

But the mood was sombre in the TRS camp. Party leaders G. Vijayarama Rao and N. Narsimha Reddy attributed the defeat of its candidate Sudharshan Rao to "conspiracy by Andhra lobbies including BJP", and betrayal by one of their MLAs. "We know who it is and we will take action".

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