KCR's party will be contained at under 35 seats: Congress chief Reddy

Confident of ousting the TRS government in Telangana, the Congress party's state chief Uttam Kumar Reddy has said Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao's arrogance would be the single-biggest reason for his party's rout in the assembly polls.

Asserting that the opposition alliance 'Praja Kutami' will make a clean sweep in the December 7 polls, Reddy claimed the ruling TRS (Telangana Rashtra Samithi) will be contained to just 35 seats in the 119-member state assembly.

In the last assembly elections in 2014, the TRS had won 63 seats but its tally had risen further to close to 90 before the assembly was dissolved by the chief minister to advance the polls, which would have otherwise happened next year along with the Lok Sabha elections.

The TRS leaders are claiming they will get at least 100 seats this time.

Reddy, who is credited to bringing the opposition alliance together, however said KCR's strategy to advance poll was a "miscalculation" and he could not see the resentment among people against his "misgovernance and autocratic rule".

"The TRS will be decimated. We will defeat KCR decisively. People are waiting to teach it a lesson for using the Telangana struggle for the personal gains. I foresee the KCR's party will be contained at under 35 seats," Reddy told PTI in an interview while campaigning in his home constituency Huzarnagar in Nalgonda district.

Reddy, who is being seen by some as a chief ministerial candidate of the opposition alliance on account of being the state Congress president and a four-time MLA, refused to comment on post-poll scenario saying it would be decided by the Congress chief Rahul Gandhi in consultation with the elected legislators of the party.

He said he is confident of the Congress victory because the party has worked meticulously from distribution of tickets to forging a workable alliance comprising Telugu Desam Party, Telangana Praja Samithi and CPI.

"KCR dissolved the assembly to be back in power. It was his miscalculation. The moment this happened, I was sure we will be back in power. Our party worked meticulously in the last four years to build the organisation. In last two months, we worked meticulously in bringing together our alliance. Our ticket allotment was much better than ever before. I think we are well set for a landslide win," Reddy said.

The state Congress chief, who was an Indian Air Force pilot, said the 'Praja Kutami' alliance is unlikely to get anything less than 85 seats, while Congress alone will get 75-77 seats.

The Congress had won only 22 seats in the 2014 elections while its tally had gone further down by the time the assembly was dissolved.

Reddy claimed the Congress will sweep south Telangana, especially Mehbubnagar, Nalgonda, Khammam and Rangareddy districts.

Congress has not yet made its assessment about Hyderabad, while it will get 60 per cent seats in north Telangana, where the party was wiped out in 2014, he said.

Asked what he feels would go against KCR in this election, Reddy said, "He has been very arrogant, dictatorial and inaccessible chief minister. He has been inhuman at times and also contemptuous and does not allow anyone to speak in the assembly."

Alleging that KCR has been "consistent about inconsistencies", Reddy said the TRS chief never did what he said and never said what he did.

"People have seen through his game. The separate Telangana cause was a mask for him and his family. He was a power hungry person and has been the most corrupt chief minister since independence India," he alleged.

While the Congress and other opposition leaders have been making similar allegations, the ruling party has been denying all these charges.

Reddy claimed the state had a surplus budget and a high per capita income when KCR took charge, but he never utilised the resources properly for the betterment of the people.

"Instead, the state became poorer and pathetic. His family became among the richest political families in the country," he alleged.

"There is an old proverb that you can fool all people for some time, some people for all time. But people of Telangana have seen through his game," he said, alleging that KCR has failed to deliver his 2014 poll promise and instead focused on "looting" the state.

(With inputs from agencies.)