Why does the Left matter in Munugode? BJP, TRS, Congress know the answer

And South First was there to hear out the leaders as well as the voters.

The rally was happening at a ground just opposite the Congress office in the town, where in the morning some miscreants set some election materials of the party on fire.

The by-election was necessitated by the resignation of Komatireddy Raj Gopal Reddy on 2 August as both an MLA and a Congress member, citing differences with Telangana Congress chief A Revanth Reddy.

CPI(M) party workers arriving at the rally venue in Chandur. (Sumit Jha/South First)

Raj Gopal Reddy has since joined the BJP and is contesting the by-election on its ticket.

At the rally, the Left leaders start to make their speeches.

“The BJP is a threat to the country. We have joined hands with the TRS to fight against the autocratic BJP, and we should ensure that the BJP’s downfall starts from Munugode. For this we have to make sure that K Prabhakar Reddy wins this election,” said Kunamneni Samba Shiva Rao, CPI state secretary, at the rally.

In the same tone, CPI(M) state secretary Thammineni Veerabhadram said that the BJP was not respecting the Constitution.

“The BJP is creating rifts between the people, and always bringing the Hindu-Muslim narrative into every matter. The BJP is discriminating against the non-BJP governments,” said Veerabhadram.

The rally ended with cheers for the TRS candidate. Around 8,000 people who had gathered at the rally, and everyone vouched to support Prabhakar Reddy.

Why do CPI, CPI(M) matter in Munugode?

Left part workers in Chandur. (Sumit Jha/ South First)

The Nalgonda district is the hub of Left politics in Telangana, and the Munugode Assembly constituency falls in this district.

The CPI won the seat five times since 1967. The last time it happened was in 2009, when the CPI candidate defeated Congress stalwart Palvai Govardhan Reddy, whose daughter Palvai Sravanthi is contesting on the Congress ticket in this by-election.

The cadre-based Left parties fight elections based on issues related to agriculture to the caste in the constituency.

Interestingly, in the 2018 Assembly elections, the Left parties supported Raj Gopal Reddy, then a Congress candidate.

Both the Left parties can account for 30,000 votes in the constituency. At the grassroots levels, they have their party members as Sarpanch and Zila Parishad members in many villages and mandals.

The Left vote arithmetic

In the 2009 Assembly election, the CPI got around 57,383 votes, which accounts for 34.94 percent of the total votes cast. The CPI candidate thus defeated P Govardhan Reddy by a margin of more than 3,500 votes.

The scenario changed in 2014. The Left parties were against the separation of Telangana from Andhra Pradesh. That sentiment worked against them.

The Left parties were fourth and fifth in the constituency, behind the TRS’ K Prabhakar Reddy (69,496 votes), then independent candidate P Sravanthi (27,441), and the BJP’s candidate Gangidi Manohar Reddy (27,434).

The CPI candidate Palla Venkat Reddy secured only 20,952 votes, and the CPI(M)’s Surkanti Srinivas Reddy secured only 9,206 votes. This indicated a total of 30,000 votes from people who were Left supporters to the core.

Interestingly, in the adjacent Assembly constituency of Deverkonda in the Nalgonda district, CPI candidate Ravindra Kumar Ramavath became the lone MLA of the party in the state, but later switched his allegiance to the TRS.

In 2018, the CPI supported the Congress candidate and the CPI(M) did not field anyone in the constituency. With the support of the CPI, the Congress’ Komtireddy Raj Gopal Reddy secured 99,239 votes, defeating the TRS’ K Prabhakar Reddy by a margin of over 37,000 votes.

On 20 August, as it became clear that the Munugode by-election was imminent, the CPI announced that it would support the TRS unconditionally to defeat the BJP. This would have been expected to give the TRS an edge in the bypoll.

However, the state-level party should also thank the Left’s financial constraints for this development.

“We had our MLA in the constituency for five terms. But as by-elections cost huge amounts of money, we are not fielding our candidates. The other parties — the BJP, the TRS and the Congress — are going to spend hundreds of crores of rupees in the election, but as a party that is mostly dependent on donations from the workers, it’s hard for us to contest the election on our own,” CPI(M) worker Banda Malesh told South First at the rally on Tuesday.

All eyes on Left votes

Rajaiah (on the left) at the rally in Chandur(Sumit Jha/South First)

CPI(M) activist Banda Rajaiah, a 71-year-old resident of Kalwakuntla in the Munugode mandal, told South First while lighting his beedi that people in his village burnt the effigy of their sarpanch Pajipla Bikshapathy a week back.

Why? “He joined BJP,” explained Rajaiah simply. “The BJP offered him ₹30 lakh and he joined without informing any party leadership.”

Rajaiah added: “The Sarpanch in our village has been from our party for years now. We make sure that whoever wins the Sarpanch election is from our party. Our sarpanch sold out to BJP, just like Raj Gopal Reddy.”

He said of the turncoat: “He was asked to bring the Left parties’ votes to the BJP. But our village is never going to vote against the BJP. It always follows our party line.”

Both the Congress and the BJP are eyeing the Left vote bank in the constituency.

Those Left voters would give leverage to any party they supported, as they are voters who are not known to be influenced by money or any other lure.

“They know we have a strong base. Our party holds a strong influence over the core voters of the Assembly. So, both parties are now trying to bring some or other leader who can also bring some votes along with them. These parties are offering money or some committee seats,” CPI worker Sampath told South First.