Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Sunday hit out at Telangana CM K. Chandrashekar Rao and BRS leader K. T. Rama Rao and said that the people of Telangana have given them an answer as the grand old party has comfortably reached the majority mark as per the latest trends of the Election Commission of India.

He also thanked the people of Telangana for giving a majority mark to the Congress party as per the latest trends of ECI.

“I thank the voters of Telangana for showing confidence on us. The people of Telangana have decided that there must be change, there must be change for progress and development,” Shivakumar said.

When asked about the Chief Minister’s face in the youngest state, the Congress leader said that the party would take the decision.

“He (Revanth Reddy) is the PCC president. He is the team leader. Our party will take the decision (on the CM’s face). The election was fought on collective leadership. I do not want to comment on K. Chandrashekar Rao or K. T. Rama Rao, the people of Telangana have given them an answer,” the Congress leader said.

The Congress is leading on 61 seats while the BRS on 36 and the BJP leading on 10, as per ECI.

Revanth Reddy is MP in the Lok Sabha from INC representing Malkajgiri Constituency. Earlier, He was a two-time MLA in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly from TDP in 2009 and 2014 and in the

Telangana Assembly between 2014 and 2018 representing Kodangal Constituency.

He left TDP and joined Congress in 2017.

In June 2021, he was appointed as president of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee replacing N. Uttam Kumar Reddy.

Revanth Reddy is leading in both the seats he is contesting Kamareddy where he stood against incumbent CM K Chandrashekar Rao and Kodangal.

Telangana CM KCR is leading from the Gajwel seat. Since the formation of the State in the year 2014, BRS has been holding power with KCR as its chief minister.

Kalvakuntla Taraka Rama Rao (KTR) is leading from Sircilla, which is considered one of the most important seats. KTR fought from the same seat in the 2018 elections and won.

Payal Shanker from BJP is leading on the Adilabad seat while Dhanpal Suryanarayana leading from Nizamabad (Urban). Former Indian Cricketer Mohammed Azharuddin who is contesting on a Congress ticket is trailing in Jubilee Hills. Jaffar Hussain from AIMIM is leading on the Yakutpura seat.

Celebrations were seen outside the Congress office in Hyderabad over the party crossing the halfway mark comfortably. The party cadre chanted “Bye bye KCR”.

The Telangana election results will be important for the Congress as it heads into the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. A win in Karnataka and Telangana would further concrete its presence in the South.

The Congress party, which is now in reckoning, was completely written off just six months ago. Several factors could have contributed to the Congress’s upturn: Perceived anti-incumbency at the constituency level against BRS MLAs; energy infused by the Karnataka victory in the party leaders and cadres; the BJP’s decline following the removal of Bandi Sanjay as the Telangana unit chief; and the perception that the BRS and AIMIM are in cahoots with the BJP.

The fate of 2,290 candidates from 109 parties including the national and regional parties will be revealed as the counting proceeds. The contestants include 221 women and one transgender. A total of 103 legislators are re-contesting this time, most of them from the ruling BRS.

Telangana went to vote on November 30. In 2018, BRS (then Telangana Rashtra Samithi) won 88 of the 119 seats and had a 47.4 per cent vote share. The Congress came a distant second with 19 seats.