The two largest political parties of the nation the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress party are all set to face off in a general election next year. But before that, the two will look to make significant gains in the five-state assembly elections, results for which will be announced today. The exit polls have also shown the Congress losing in Mizoram.

One hundred km away from the sights and sounds of plush Hi-Tech city, the main business district of Hyderabad, lies Mahabubnagar, a neighbourhood bordering the state's capital that presents a picture of Telangana that is arguably more real where the installation of fancy street lights is reason enough to re-elect a legislator. Telangana chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao was elected to Parliament from Mahabubnagar.

Since fighting together for a separate Telangana state that was carved out of Andhra Pradesh in 2014, Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS) president M. Kodandaram and Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) supremo and caretaker chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao have come a long way. Kodandaram was chairman of the Telangana Joint Action Committee, which was formed to fight for statehood, and later became an apolitical body.