South India mostly defies norm; Kerala remains Cong's only oasis

KCR was aiming to win 16 seats from the state and forming a Federal Front at the Centre. Pic/Twitter

Hyderabad: The crushing defeat of non-NDA parties in Lok Sabha elections shattered the dreams of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, who was looking to play a key role at the Centre.

The results came as a huge blow to the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief who was working to cobble up a "Federal Front" to form a non-BJP, non-Congress government at the Centre.

KCR, as Rao is popularly known, was even being seen as the potential prime ministerial candidate by his party in the event of regional parties emerging as a major bloc in the Lok Sabha.

What is more shocking for KCR is that his party could not achieve the goal of making a clean sweep in Telangana. KCR's party was aiming to win 16 seats, leaving Hyderabad for its ally All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM).

Both the BJP and the Congress dealt a blow to the TRS' plans as they were together ahead in seven constituencies. KCR's daughter K Kavitha failed to retain her Nizamabad seat. She was one of the 11 MPs of the TRS in the previous Lok Sabha.

The outcome is shocking for the TRS as it came barely six months after it retained power in Telangana with a landslide victory, winning 88 seats in 119-member Assembly.
It was after this huge win that KCR had revived his plans for Federal Front by meeting West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who head the Trinamool Congress and the Biju Janata Dal, respectively.

A few days ago, the TRS chief stepped up his efforts by holding talks with Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, of the CPI-Marxist, and DMK leader M K Stalin. He had proposed a federal front in March last year.

88
No. of seats TRS had won in Assembly polls last year

11
No. of Lok Sabha seats the TRS won in Lok Sabha 2014

Congress wins in UT Puducherry
The Congress on Thursday established a solid lead over rival AINRC candidate in the sole Puducherry Lok Sabha constituency. The Congress candidate Ve Vaithilingam had polled over 1.69 lakh votes while his nearest rival, AINRC's Narayanasamy Kesavan, got over 89,400 votes, Election Commission officials said. The rest of the seats in Tamil Nadu were mostly won by Stalin's DMK.

Rahul secures big win in Wayanad
Rahul Gandhi secured a record-breaking margin against his nearest rival CPI's P P Suneer in the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency on Thursday, as roads in front of counting centres in this hill town wore a deserted look. As counting progressed, Gandhi established a lead of over three lakh votes, probably the biggest margin in the Lok Sabha elections in the state.

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