With Telangana going to polls on Thursday, stakes are running in the neighbouring Telugu State of Andhra Pradesh.
Till late in the night, the stakes were pitched at 1:2, with one pitched in favour of K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s BRS (Bharat Rashtra Samithi) and two in favour of the Congress.
The betting picked up from November 29 morning, and as per sources businessmen and even politicians across political parties, have pitched their bets.
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The betting picked up, after Congress had started to gain ground in the State, over the last few days. From a one-sided battle in favour of BRS, it is now 50-50 chance, and Congress appears to have a slight edge.
This has set the dice rolling over the betting tables. Not only in the bordering towns, stakes were running high in cities such as Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam, Rajahmundry and in some rural areas of erstwhile districts such as Guntur, Krishna, East and West Godavari.
We have got reports that betting was high even in smaller districts such as Anakapalli and Srikakulam, in north Andhra region, said a police officer on the condition of anonymity.
Sources say that amount was going in crores and it could touch a few hundred crores. A close confidant of a political leader said that he has put in ₹1 crore if BRS wins and ₹2 crore for Congress and most of the money was routed through the hawala or through NRI accounts.
The betting groups have been formed days ahead of the poll and bets are put across social media platforms in coded words. Even NRIs and software professionals living outside India have put in their money.
