We polled more votes as compared to the last Assembly elections in 2018, G Kishan Reddy said
Union Minister and the BJP's Telangana president, G Kishan Reddy, on Sunday, lauded the party's performance in the Assembly polls in the state, saying that it doubled its vote share and won 8 seats to only a single one in the 2018 elections.
While the BJP, which was in a three-cornered battle for the state, finished significantly behind the Congress and the incumbent BRS in the final tally, it fared creditably, upping its state count and vote share from the 2018 polls and holding out hope of a bigger haul in the Lok Sabha elections next year.
Speaking to news agency ANI on Sunday, the BJP state chief said, "I would say that we have done well in Telangana. We polled more votes as compared to the last Assembly elections in 2018 and also doubled our vote percentage from 6.10 per cent (in 2018) to more than 14 per cent this time. Also, we could win just one seat last time but our tally is up to 8 this time."
He also heaped praise on BJP candidate Venkata Ramana Reddy, who emerged as a giant killer, defeating Chief Minister and ruling BRS supremo, K Chandrasekhar Rao, from the Kamareddy Assembly seat.
However, the CM, who was contesting from two seats -- Kamareddy and Gajwel, managed to register a face-saving victory from Gajwel even as his party failed to secure a decisive mandate in his favour.
Significantly, Congress leader Revanth Reddy, who was the face of the party's campaign in the state and was contesting from two seats as well, was also pitted against the BJP nominee from Kamareddy and lost.
"Our candidate from Kamareddy, Venkata Ramana Reddy, did very well as he prevailed over heavyweight opponents KCR and Revanth Reddy," the BJP state chief added.
The Congress, which emerged as the largest single party in the state with 62 seats, is set to form the government after the incumbent CM conceded defeat and accepted the mandate.
The grand old party was also leading in two more seats where the counting was still in progress at the time of filing this report.
The BRS, which retained power in Telangana with a brute majority in 2018, could only win 36 seats this time and was leading in 3 more till the last reports.
While the BJP won 8 seats, the AIMIM, led by Asaduddin Owaisi, won 7 seats and was leading in 2 more till the time of filing this report.
The Communist Party of India (CPI) also won one seat.
As the vote count pointed towards a decisive mandate for the Congress, party workers erupted in joy at its state office in Hyderabad.
Jubilant Congress supporters raised chants of 'CM, CM' as state party chief Revanth Reddy arrived at the party office.
The state went to polls on November 30, in the final round of the Assembly elections in 5 states.
In 2018, the BRS (then Telangana Rashtra Samithi) won 88 of the 119 Assembly seats, hogging 47.4 per cent of the total vote share.
The Congress came a distant second with 19 seats.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)