Telangana Assembly elections 2018: A look at probable CM candidates

Telangana has voted in its first full-fledged Assembly elections. The youngest state of India witnessed a fierce election campaign in a multi-cornered contest. The major political parties in the fray were Telangana Rashtra Samithi, Telugu Desam Party, Congress and Telangana Jana Samithi. While the TRS decided to go alone, the Congress-led opposition parties formed an alliance called Praja Kutami.

Political bigwigs like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress president Rahul Gandhi, former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu and TRS supremo K Chandrasekhar Rao spearheaded the campaign, which even witnessed several instances of personal attacks. The state witnessed a turnout of almost 70% and the results are set to be declared on December 11. According to most of the exit polls, KCR is expected to retain power in the state.

Here’s a look at the CM probables in the southern state:

1. K Chandrasekhar Rao:

The TRS chief and the first chief minister of Telangana remains the most popular choice for the post. Though he has been accused by opposition parties of favouring “family” over people of the state and also costing a burden on the state exchequer, his popularity seems to remain intact. KCR is believed to have spearheaded the movement for creation of the state of Telangana. He called for early elections in the state as his cabinet recommended dissolution of Telangana legislative assembly six months before the completion of his term.

2. Nalamada Uttam Kumar Reddy

NU Kumar Reddy is the chief of the state unit of the Congress party in Telangana, and hence a formidable face of the joint opposition. Representing Huzurnagar in the Telangana legislative assembly, Reddy had been elected thrice to the Andhra Pradesh state Assembly. The Congress has, however, declared that a decision on the chief ministerial candidate will be taken only after the results of the Assembly elections are out.

3. M Kodandaram

M Kodandaram, popularly known as Professor Kodandaram in Telangana, is said to be the guiding force behind KCR’s TRS during the final stages of the movement for the creation of the state. But later, he had a fallout with KCR and he went on to announce his own political party – Telangana Jana Samithi. And Kodandaram’s TJS is contesting the Telangana Assembly elections 2018 as part of the united opposition alliance, named Praja Kutami. Several political experts believe that if the opposition alliance manages to secure the magic number, Prof Kodamdaram may emerge as its face for the chief ministerial post. Some even equated him with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the run up to the elections.