Hyderabad: Hours before the counting of votes was set to begin on Tuesday, rival political parties and leaders were strategising for different scenarios.

EVMs will be opened at 45 centres across the state under tight security and a clear picture was likely to emerge before noon.

Although the majority of exit polls have forecast a clear majority for the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), the opposition Congress-led People’s Front was not giving up hope of pulling an upset, as some polls also hinted at the possibility of hung assembly.

While the chief minister and TRS supremo K. Chandrasekhar Rao held an unusual luncheon meeting on Monday with his ally, Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi, the leaders of Praja Kutami or People’s Front met the governor E.S.L. Narasimhan.

Owaisi, who caught everybody by surprise by riding a Triumph motorcycle to the chief minister’s residence in Begumpet, had a detailed discussion with KCR.

While there was speculation that, in the case of the TRS falling short of numbers, the MIM would extend outside support, Owaisi reiterated his confidence that the TRS would return to power with a clear majority.

“Inshallah [God willing] he’ll form government on his own strength, and Majlis will stand by him. This is our first step towards a larger goal of national building,” he tweeted before the meeting.

As, in case of a hung assembly the governor will have to play a key role, all eyes were focused on Raj Bhavan.

Meanwhile, the delegation led by the state Congress president and possible chief ministerial candidate N. Uttam Kumar Reddy urged the governor to treat the People’s Front as a single entity and give it the first chance to form the government in case it emerges a single largest formation in the new assembly on Tuesday.

Under the constitution the governor should invite a single large party or a pre-polls alliance.

The People’s Front wanted to consolidate its position by drawing attention of the governor to the fact that the four constituent parties — the Congress, Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Communist Party of India (CPI) and Telangana Jana Samiti (TJS) — had entered into a pre-poll alliance.

The delegation that met the governor included senior Congress leaders Mohammad Ali Shabbir, Mohammad Azharuddin, Bhatti Vikramarka and Madhu Goud Yashki. Others present were TDP state president L. Ramanna, TJS president Prof M. Kodandaram, state secretary Chada Venkat Reddy and Manda Krishna Madiga of Madiga Reservation Porata Samiti.

The meeting was significant as the Front leaders were worried that the governor may prefer a single large party to the single largest alliance, citing the technicalities of the constitution.

After the meeting Uttam Kumar Reddy told reporters that the delegation submitted a memorandum to the governor to recognise the four-party Alliance as a single entity.

“We urged the governor to provide full security to the elected members of the Alliance. Some other parties were trying to forma post poll alliance but we wanted the governor to give preference to the pre poll alliance,” he said.

Congress was also taking precautionary measures against the possibility of any attempt by the TRS to poach its members in the Assembly.

Sources in Congress said they were ready to follow the example of neighbouring Karnataka where similar attempts by the BJP were foiled.

It is learnt that the party has sought help from Karnataka strongman and minister D.K. Sivakumar who had executed the plan to shift Karnataka Congress MLAs to Hyderabad, which led to the collapse of B.S. Yeddyurappa government in Bengaluru earlier this year.

Several party bigwigs including Gulam Nabi Azad, Ahmad Patel and Jairam Ramesh were also travelling to Hyderabad. The party has already directed that all the newly elected members should immediately contact the party headquarters as soon as the result is declared.

On the other hand the BJP was finding itself in a dilemma as its conditional offer to support KCR was spurned by the TRS.

Several leaders of the right-wing party had said that the BJP would extend support to the TRS if it severs the relations with the MIM. But the TRS rejected it out of hand.

State BJP President K Lakshman speaking to media on Monday expressed confidence that his party will play a key role in the formation of the government.

As around 10 independent or rebel candidates were also likely to be elected, both the rival camps were trying to contact the possible winners with attractive offers.