Cong leading in 35 Lok Sabha seats in AP

A resurgent Congress, teaming up with the Telengana Rashtra Samiti, is racing ahead in the Lok Sabha elections in Andhra Pradesh. The combine led in 35 constituencies out of a total of 42. The Telegu Desam Party-Bharatiya Janata Party combine led in a meagre five.

Early trends suggest that several TDP-BJP leaders, including Union Ministers Ch Vidyasagar Rao, B Dattatreya and U R Krishnamraju, face defeat.

TRS President K Chandrasekhar Rao established an unassailable lead of 85,000 votes over senior BJP leader Vidyasagar Rao in Karimnagar, the heartland of Telangana.

In the coastal constituency of Amalapuram, once represented by former Lok Sabha Speaker G M C Balayogi, the Congress candidate G V Harsha Kumar was leading over his nearest TDP rival D Janardhan Rao.

AICC spokesperson S Jaipal Reddy was leading in the Miryalguda constituency with 16,500 votes over his TDP rival Swamigoud. The firebrand Congress leader Renuka Choudhary was leading in Khammam by over 25,000 votes.

D Purandareshwari, the daughter of the late N T Rama Rao, the TDP's founder, is ahead of her TDP rival film producer D Rama Naidu in the Bapatla constituency.

In the dissolved Lok Sabha, the TDP had 29 seats, its ally BJP seven and Congress had five members; Hyderabad constituency was represented by the Majlis-e-Ittehadul.