Telangana Rashtra Samiti wins with slim margin

BANSWADA: The Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) won Andhra Pradesh’s Banswada assembly bypoll, defeating the Congress on Monday. The TRS had declared the bypoll as a referendum on Telangana.

But the verdict margin did not turn out to be an emphatic endorsement for the separate state. TRS candidate Pocharam Srinivas Reddy, a three-time MLA, defeated the Congress’s Srinivas Goud by a margin of just 49,889 votes.

Reddy secured 83,245 while Goud 33,356 votes, leaving the TRS camp in total shock as it had claimed that the Congress candidate would lose his deposit due to the strong Telangana sentiment.