Telangana Rashtriya Samiti (TRS) president and Telangana caretaker chief-minister K. Chandrasekara Rao has spurned the BJP’s offer to ‘step in’ and help him out in case his party failed to get the magic number of 60 Assembly seats needed to form the Government.

As already reported, Assembly polls in Telangana were held last Friday; counting of votes is to be taken up tomorrow (11th December). TRS is locked in a three-cornered contest in all the 119 constituencies in the State with the TDP-Congress combine and the BJP. Exit polls results, released soon after the polling, points to TRS retaining power in the State.

Congress and its allies put up a brave face yesterday, claiming that they were only worried about the ‘location’ of swearing-in of the TDP-Congress cabinet as they were almost assured of a victory at the hustings. Exit polls have given Congress 30-odd seats. BJP is not allying with any party and is going it alone in all the seats.

Apparently realizing that it might not have made a good decision to go it alone, the BJP made an offer to Rao two days after the exit poll results were out. “We are ready to support any set-up at the State to form the next Govt. except the Congress and its allies,” BJP Telangana chief K. Laxman said.

“In case we are not given the mandate to rule the State, we shall discuss among ourselves and try to keep the Congress out of power,” he said, implicitly letting out the fact that it was ready to prop up the TRS-led Government. Confident of victory on his own, Rao responded back stating that he didn’t want the BJP’s support to form the next Government.