Cong, BJP will not be able to get majority in LS polls, claims

Newly-appointed TRS Working President K T Rama Rao Saturday claimed that neither the Congress nor BJP would be able to get a majority after the general elections next year and said Telangana can get its interests safeguarded if his party wins 16 of the 17 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

BJP would not be able to get more than 150-160 seats and Congress, even if the 44 seats it won in last Lok Sabha polls doubles, would not secure more than 80-90 seats in 2019, he maintained.

Even their combined tally would not cross 270, he claimed adding in such a situation every MP seat becomes important in the election.

"If TRS wins 16 seats with people's blessings, it would be dictating to the government in Delhi (Centre) with those 16 seats," he said indicating a crucial role for the party.

Telangana was not able to realise the assurances given to it in the Andhra Pradesh Re-organisation Act like setting up a steel plant in the state with the NDA government at the Centre having a comfortable majority on its own, he said.

TRS would play a decisive role if a non-Congress, non-BJP government assumes office at the Centre, he said.

The total number of Lok Sabha seats in Telangana is 17. AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi, an ally of TRS, traditionally wins from the Hyderabad parliamentary constituency.

Rama Rao said his appointment as working president should not lead to speculation that something more was in store for him.

On the party's stand that it would not hesitate to play a role in Andhra Pradesh politics, he said people of the neighbouring state would decide what was good for them.

Rama Rao was speaking at a 'Meet the Press' programme organised at the Press Club of Hyderabad.

He would formally take over as working president of TRS on Monday, party sources said.