Both the TRS and the BJP are eyeing the Munugode seat, with the Congress at a disadvantage a year before the Telangana assembly election.
Published Aug 03, 2022 | 11:20 AM ⚊ Updated Aug 03, 2022 | 10:46 PM
The Congress' Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy with his son. (krg_reddy/Twitter)
The Congress’ gadfly Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy’s announcement that he would soon be quitting the membership of the Telangana Assembly, as well as the primary membership of the party, comes as no surprise since he has been hinting that he was in search of greener pastures in the BJP, which had been beckoning him to join its ranks for quite some time now.
With his announcement, the decks seem to be clear for a byelection to Munugode in the erstwhile Nalgonda district, as and when he hands over his resignation letter in the proper format to the Speaker of the Assembly and the Speaker accepts it.
The Speaker may not delay accepting the resignation, as the TRS appears to be keen on wresting the seat from the Congress to set the tone for the Assembly elections next year.
Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao has already held a series of review meetings with officials on facing the byelection, discussing the announcement of development works. He also created a mandal — Gattu Uppal — which is part of the constituency. He held talks with the party leaders to arrive at a decision as to who would be the best bet for the party in the byelection.
Though the TRS lost Munugode to the Congress in the 2018 elections, it bounced back and won the ZPTC and MPTC in five of the six mandals in the constituency. This apart, it captured two civic bodies in subsequent elections.
The list of aspirants for the TRS ticket is quite long. It includes former MP Bura Narasiah Goud, former MLC Karne Prabhakar, Legislative Council chairman Gutha Sukhender Reddy’s son Amith Reddy, and so on.
After it lost two by-elections in the recent past — Dubbaka and Huzurnagar — to the BJP, the TRS wants to exact revenge on the saffron party, which has been leading a high-octane campaign that KCR’s days are numbered and that the BJP would hoist the saffron flag on Golconda Fort after the next Assembly election.
Winning the Munugode Assembly seat may not be difficult for the BJP, as it now has a strong candidate in Rajagopal, who won the 2018 election with a majority of 20,000 votes, notwithstanding the fact that the BJP is virtually non-existent in the constituency.
In fact, its performance in two by-elections held for Huzurnagar and Nagarjuna Sagar in the erstwhile district of Nalgonda was nothing short of a disaster.
However, the momentum that the saffron party acquired following its smart gains in North Telangana (where it won two Assembly by-elections), a creditable performance in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation elections, and the recent success of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s public meeting in Hyderabad, might help the BJP sail through in Munugode by-election.
Its insurance against defeat is the candidature of Rajagopal, who is known to have a good following in the constituency.
Rajagopal’s announcement of resigning — though expected — has jarred the Congress, which now has to look for a candidate and sweat it out to retain the seat.
In fact, the Congress was hoping against hope that Rajagopal would not switch sides midstream, as it does not want a by-election when the Assembly elections are scheduled to be held next year. It cannot afford any reverses that might impart credibility to the narrative that the grand old party is slipping into the third position.
That the Congress has no suitable candidate for the by-election was evident when TPCC president A Revanth Reddy said the candidate was the party itself, and that it was banking on the people to support it regardless of the candidate. Former Rajya Sabha member late Palvai Govardhan Reddy’s daughter Sravanthi is said to be angling for the ticket.
The by-election could be significant as it might indicate which way the wind is blowing.
