Congress sees 'split in votes' to win

Hyderabad: The Congress is pinning its hopes on a split in votes among the candidates of major parties to win a few seats in the Lok Sabha elections.

According to party leaders, split in votes may happen in the constituencies in which the BJP is giving a tough fight to both the Congress and the TRS. The constituency, the Congress leaders are citing, are Mahbubnagar, Nalgonda, Nizamabad, Bhongir, Nizamabad, Secunderabad and Karimnagar.

In Mahbubnagar, BJP candidate D K Aruna has emerged strong and she may take major share of votes and in such a situation, the Congress will be benefitted. As Muslim voters are in high numbers in the constituency, split in Hindu vote will benefit the Congress, the leaders hope. BJP candidate Dharmapur Aravind has engaged Congress and TRS in a tough battle in Nizamabad Lok Sabha constituency and it may be to the Congress' advantage.

As far as Karimnagar constituency is concerned, Bandi Sanjay of BJP is considered a strong candidate and he may take a good number of Hindu votes. This would benefit the Congress since Muslim voters can tilt the scales in this consistency.

In Secunderabad constituency, BJP leader G Kishan Reddy is contesting on behalf of the BJP and he is expected to garner greater number of Hindu votes. It may result in the Congress securing Muslim votes.

Similar situation is prevailing in Nalgonda and Bhongir constituencies. These constituencies too have a good number of Muslim votes.

Keeping these factors in view, the Congress leaders are chalking out a strategy to secure Muslim votes. These constituencies have two to four lakh Muslim votes.

They argued that the voters have been differentiating between Assembly and Parliament elections and the voting pattern would change. The BJP has contested in limited seats in the previous Parliament elections and this had helped the TRS win a good number of seats.