Telangana polls 2023: Congress keeps luxury buses ready at hotel in fear of ‘poaching’

In fear of ‘poaching’ of MLAs by the opposition parties, buses have been stationed at the Taj Krishna Hotel by the Congress party as counting is underway for the Telangana assembly elections 2023. 

On the issue, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee Vice President, Kiran Kumar Chamala said "You all know KCR style of functioning, poaching is his main agenda. So we have taken some measurements, but after seeing the result today, the trends and everything. Such activity is not needed because at least we will have 80 plus seats...Everything is fine. We are very happy today..."

Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister and Congress heavyweight DK Shivakumar arrived in Hyderabad on Saturday evening, in a strategic move a day ahead of the counting of votes for the Telangana Assembly polls.

The Congress leader has been instructed to keep the newly-elected Congress MLAs together and prevent poaching in case of a tight finish, said sources.

As of now, the Congress party is leading on 60 seats, while the incumbent BRS has maintained a lead on 35 seats. Counting of votes in elections to the 119-member Telangana assembly started at 8 am on Sunday, amid tight security at counting centres in the state.