Munugode will see a clash among three Reddys in a constituency with significant population of backward classes.
Published Oct 08, 2022 | 4:07 PM ⚊ Updated Oct 08, 2022 | 5:35 PM
K Rajagopal Reddy with supporters in Munugode. (Facebook)
The BJP has officially announced that its nominee for the Munugode by-election would be Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy.
In a communication on Saturday, 8 October, the BJP central office in Delhi released his name, along with the names of those who would be fighting on behalf of the party in by-elections in other states.
Rajagopal Reddy, who was representing Munugode in the Telangana Assembly, resigned from the Congress, on whose ticket he won the seat in 2018, and then from the Assembly, before joining the saffron party.
He will file his nomination papers on Monday with the party’s state in charge Tarun Chugh, party state president Bandi Sanjay Kumar and others in attendance. Later, the party is planning to hold a public meeting to influence voters in its favour.
His resignation as an MLA has necessitated the by-election, which is scheduled to be held on November 3.
With his nomination as BJP candidate, Munugode, a predominantly Backward Classes (BCs) constituency, will see three Reddys fighting among themselves to represent them in the Assembly.
The TRS (BRS) on Friday announced that its nominee would be former MLA Kusukuntla Prabhakar Reddy. The Congress, in fact, was the first party to announce its candidate — Palvai Sravanthi, who is the daughter of former Rajya Sabha member late Palvai Govardhan Reddy on whose legacy she is banking heavily to win the seat.
The TRS is deploying a large number of leaders in the constituency for the micro-level management of voters in all the villages in the constituency.
They are already on the job, proselytising local leaders in villages into TRS activists, holding community meetings for improving familiarity quotient with the voters, and campaigning the party’s USPs: Rythu Bandhu, Asara, and the round-the-clock power supply to farm wells.
Senior leaders have taken the responsibility of putting out BC leaders’ dissident activity who were opposed to Prabhakar Reddy’s nomination. The party also faces ire over the Charlagudem project compensation package.
The BJP leaders too are campaigning in their own style. Rajagopal Reddy hit the roads quite some time ago. His campaign vehicles, with songs and his message blaring from the mikes, have been criss-crossing the constituency.
He is in touch with Congress voters, to win them over to his side as their support is crucial for his victory. Whether he will succeed remains to be seen, with reports suggesting a lack of enthusiasm among Congress voters to follow him to the BJP.
Sravanthi has been working quietly to bring to life the legacy of her father who has considerable goodwill as he represented the constituency in the Assembly five times. He was also an MLC and Rajya Sabha member.
Though her campaigning is not visible, she says that she believed in the door-to-door visits which she, and her workers, were doing.
She said she was banking on the support of the Congress workers since they were committed to the party and would not stray.
As Munugode is a Congress seat, she says she does not see any reason why the party would find it difficult to retain it this time too.
