Hyderabad, Dec 5 (IANS) A high-decibel campaign for the Telangana Assembly elections ended on Wednesday evening.
A news conference jointly addressed by Congress President Rahul Gandhi, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N. Chandrababu Naidu and other leaders of the People’s Front in Hyderabad was ended abruptly a minute before the deadline for campaign ended at 5 p.m.
Ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) President and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao addressed his last election rally in Gajwel constituency, from where he is seeking re-election.
For the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath campaigned on the last day addressing four rallies.
A little over 2.80 crore people are eligible to vote in the Friday election. A total of 1,821 candidates are in the fray in 119 constituencies.
The acrimonious campaign saw no-holds-barred exchanges among leaders of the three political formations and the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), a key player in Hyderabad.
Seeking a second consecutive term in India’s youngest state, TRS is contesting all the seats on its own. MIM has declared support to TRS, barring eight constituencies in Hyderabad.
KCR, whose party bagged 63 seats in 2014, dissolved the Assembly in September to go for early elections, eight months before its term was to end.
The Congress is contesting 94 seats and its ally TDP 13. They have left the remaining seats for Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS) and Communist Party of India (CPI).
The BJP is contesting the polls on its own. The Bahujan Left Front (BLD) led by the Communist Party of India-Marxist and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) are also contesting.
For TRS, KCR led the campaign addressing over 100 election rallies across the state. His son K.T. Rama Rao conducted the campaign in Greater Hyderabad while nephew Harish Rao too addressed a few meetings.
As stakes are high for Chandrababu Naidu, he campaigned extensively in Greater Hyderabad, which has considerable number of voters from Andhra Pradesh. He also shared the dais with Rahul Gandhi in Khammam, Kodad and Hyderabad.
Rahul Gandhi led the campaign of the People’s Front, addressing over 25 rallies. His mother and United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi too addressed a meeting in Hyderabad.
Several central leaders of Congress, actresses Vijayashanti, Khushboo, Nagma, former Indian cricket captain Mohammad Azharuddin, former cricketer and Punjab Minister Navajot Singh Sidhu took part in the campaigning.
BJP President Amit Shah led the campaign for the party, addressing a series of rallies across the state. Prime Minister Narendra Modi participated in three rallies including one in Hyderabad.
MIM president Asaduddin Owaisi and his brother Akbaruddin Owaisi led their party’s campaign.
BSP leader Mayawati addressed a couple of meetings while CPI-M General Secretary Sitaram Yechuri campaigned for BLF.
–IANS
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