Talks about post-poll possibilities in Telangana as exit polls predict TRS win

After most exit polls predicting the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) emerging as the single largest party in the state, both All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are keeping their options open.

Maintaining silence on any possible alliance with K Chandrashekar Rao-led TRS, AIMIM supremo Asaduddin Owaisi said, “We should wait for the result,” adding that all speculations are baseless.

"The TRS is going to form the government in Telangana on their own strength; all the speculations which are being raised are baseless,” he added. 

Commenting on Congress alliance, Owaisi added, “I don`t want to comment on the Congress welcoming the AIMIM to Praja Kutami.”

Exits polls CNX, Jan Ki Baat, and NETA have predicted incumbent caretaker Chief Minister Rao-led TRS retaining another term.

The BJP has claimed that it would play a "vital role" in the formation of the next government in the southern state.

"We have contested the election on our own for the first time after a decade. We have contested the polls to win. The BJP will be part of the government. Without the BJP, there cannot be any government. What happens after the results are declared, we will think of it," state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president K Laxman told PTI.

Asked whom the BJP would support in case of a hung verdict, Laxman said the party would discuss the situation taking into consideration who would emerge as the single-largest party.

"It all depends on the results, because even the Congress in Karnataka had repeatedly said the JD(S) was the 'B' team of the BJP. Finally, what happened? They (Congress) joined hands with the JD(S). These are all mind games played by the Congress.

"Here also, we have never said we are going to support the TRS. We will see what happens once the results are out," he said.

While the BJP and the TRS, led by Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, contested the polls on their own, the Congress, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS) had formed the "People's Front".

Meanwhile, the TRS Sunday said it was going to form the next government on its own by winning more than 80 of the 119 Assembly seats.

"There will be no need for the TRS to have support -- either from the BJP or the AIMIM (the Asaduddin Owaisi-led All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen). We are going to form the government on our own with a comfortable majority, so the question of they (BJP) supporting us does not arise," said TRS leader and Karimnagar MP B Vinod Kumar.

"We are confident that the TRS will form the government on its own. There is no need for any support from any quarter," he added. 

Telangana went to polls on December 7 and the results for the state's 119 Assembly seats will be announced on December 11.