Telangana Election results live: KCR's TRS demolishes opposition, wins a landslide

The Prajakutami is hoping that the coming together of parties like the Congress and the TDP on a single platform will help them against KCR.

For the ruling TRS, the outcome of the election is important for several reasons. K Chandrasekhar Rao had announced that he was forced to advance the assembly elections by eight months because of the excessive criticism he faced from the Congress in the state assembly.

In the event of a fractured verdict, Congress has kept choppers ready to airlift its MLAs to a ‘friendly state’ like Karnataka to avoid their poaching by TRS and other parties.

If neither the TRS nor the grand alliance secure a simple majority, the situation can bring the BJP and AIMIM on to the centre stage, provided both retain their existing assembly seats and make further inroads.

With both Rahul and Naidu reaching across to other regional parties like SP, BSP and Trinamool Congress to take on a BJP-led NDA unitedly in the Lok Sabha, a win by the Congress-led alliance could have even wider ramifications nationally.

A win will reinforce chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s image as the tallest leader in the region.

Telangana is the only state where the Congress formed a pre-poll alliance. The no-holds-barred campaigning that the state saw, could well be a curtain-raiser for the battles that to be fought in 2019. It would also test the strength of the glue holding together the Congress alliance with TDP, TJS and CPI.

Results of the assembly elections in Telangana, which will be declared on Tuesday, will play a key role in shaping political alliances in the country ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.