Heated campaigning for Telangana elections end, voting on Friday

Sonia Gandhi addressed one public meeting, while Modi addressed three election rallies in Telangana

The high decibel campaign by political parties for the December 7 Assembly polls, which saw political heavy weights like Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress Chief Rahul Gandhi criss-crossing the state addressing rallies, ended Wednesday.

Leaders from across political parties, including BJP Chief Amit Shah, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Chief Ministers of various states, Union Ministers and several others conducted election rallies and roadshows to woo voters in the state.

Hinting at a possible future political direction, Rahul Gandhi and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu shared dais for the first time.

Congress formed the "People's Front" with Telugu Desam Party (TDP), CPI and Professor M Kodandaram-led Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS), while the TRS and BJP are going it alone.

CPI(M)-led Bahujan Left Front is also in the fray.

"Mental," "420," "Chor," "Gaddar," "betrayer," "Broker" and "Cheat" were some of the words used by some political leaders during their speeches in various meetings, as campaigning heated up in the last few days.

Sonia Gandhi addressed one public meeting, while Modi addressed three election rallies.

Rahul Gandhi threw his weight fully behind the campaign, addressing over a dozen public meetings and road shows.

Highlighting his government's achievements, Telangana caretaker Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao addressed about 90 meetings, seeking a second term for the TRS.

Naidu also participated extensively in road shows and meetings, raising the election "fever."

Modi in his speeches highlighted the "family rule" of TRS and Congress even as he and Amit Shah maintained that reservations for Muslim Minorities, proposed by the Telangana government, was "anti-constitutional."

KCR, as Rao is referred to by many, largely talked about the achievements of his government and slammed Modi for not giving consent to the state's Muslim quota bill and Congress-TDP for "unholy tie up."

Amit Shah described AIMIM as a party of "Razakars," while Akbaruddin Owaisi, brother of AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi, kicked up a row by saying that whoever becomes chief minister of Telangana should "bow their head" to his party.

Huge sums of unaccounted cash and illegal liquor and other goods were seized since the Model Code of Conduct came into effect on September 27.

As per the last count, the total seizures stood at nearly Rs 120 crore, including unaccounted cash, illegal liquor and other goods.