By Mohammed Shafeeq Hyderabad 7 August, Hyderabad : With a potential three-cornered race the by-election to Munugode Assembly seat may indicate the direction in which the winds are moving in Telangana in the lead up to of the Assembly elections scheduled for next year.
The choice of Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy quit both the Congress party and the Assembly and change his loyalty to the BJP will open the way for the by-election to be an opportune moment for the main fight.
The saffron party is trying to replicate the popularity of Dubbak and Huzurabad by-elections in order to consolidate its standing in the lead-up to 2023’s elections.
The party that is ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) is likely to go all-out to stop the the BJP’s march.
The Congress party is also determined to regain lost ground and get ready for the main test.
Political observers say that the by-election provided another opportunity for all the three main political parties in the state to show their power.
Given the outcomes of the results of four Assembly by-elections that were held in 2018 Munugode could be a potential challenger to the Congress party in its former stronghold of Nalgonda district.
There is speculation in circles of political skepticism that the brother of Rajagopal Reddy and MP Venkat Reddy might also leave the Congress and join the BJP, Congress party is likely to be subject to an examination of its acidity.
The by-election is an important test for the state Congress Chief A.Revanth Reddy as the Komatireddy brothers are his harsh critics.Venkat Reddy has expressed his displeasure with certain statements that were made by Revanth Reddy, while pointing out his remarks, and has even demanded an apology from his remarks.
Being criticized by his opponents in the opposition over his manner of working, Revanth Reddy will be under immense demands to show up and offer an appropriate counterpoint to the Komatireddy brothers on their own ground.
Revanth Reddy has been attacked by factions within the party over failing to secure the deposit of a candidate in the Huzurabad by-election.This was his first bypoll since he was appointed the TPCC chief last year.
In light of the importance of the Munugode by-election in the Munugode by-election, the Congress party swiftly took action to organize a public gathering in the district.Through the speech delivered by Revanth Reddy, the Congress party attempted to demonstrate that, despite the resignation of Rajagopal Reddy the members continued to be committed to the party.
Revanth Reddy was furious at Rajagopal accusing him of sabotaging the self-esteem of the citizens of Telangana as well as the Congress at the of the of Indian Home Minister Amit Shah.
He claimed that Rajagopal Reddy is joining BJP since the saffron-colored party has granted his business contracts totalling around 21,000 crore.”For the contracts, Rajagopal mortgaged the self-respect of the 91,000 voters who cast their ballots for him as well as Amma Sonia Gandhi who handed him a ticket to run for the party,” he said
The public meeting was attended by the top Congress officials K.Jana Reddy, N.Uttam Kumar Reddy, Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and R.Damodar Reddy, Venkat Reddy was astonished by his absence.
A few of the Congress leaders demanded Venkat Reddy to prove his loyalty by supporting his brother or leaving the Congress party.
Political analysts say internal disagreements in the party as well as the latest resignation of party’s national spokesperson Dasoju Sravan over Revanth’s style of working could increase the concerns of TPCC head.
After failing to keep the Huzurnagar seat in 2019 and to wrest Nagarjuna Sagar from TRS last year the Congress party is hoping for a victory.
The by-election in Huzurnagar was triggered because of the resignation of Uttam Kumar Reddy following the fact that he was elected to the Lok Sabha in 2019 while Nagarjuna Sagar seat was declared vacant following the death of the incumbent member of TRS.Both seats were contested by the TRS.
The Congress party was shattered by losing 12 MLAs to TRS in the 2018 elections and suffered a poor performance in the by-elections in Dubbak and Huzurabad that were swept by BJP from TRS.
BJP’s Raghunandan Rao was the winner of Dubbak in 2020 with a small margin of 1,079 votes in favour of TRS candidate S.Sujatha, widow of S.Ramalinga Reddy who died in the by-poll.BJP had won 63,352 votes , while the TRS had a majority of 62,273 votes.
The Congress’ Cheruku Srinivas Reddy was third with 22,196 votes.
At the time of the elections in 2018, TRS had won the seat by the margin of 62,500 votes.The Congress was runner-up with 26,799 votes.The BJP’s Raghunandan Rao was third with 22,595 votes.
This victory brought new confidence to the BJP who had previously only secured one seat in the 119-member Assembly in the 2018 elections.
The saffron-colored party began to project itself as the sole option to TRS.But, it was stricken by an embarrassing defeat in Nagarjuna Sagar in May this year.TRS won the seat with its candidate Nomula Bhagat prevailing over the veteran Congress leader K.Jana Reddy by more than 18,000 votes.
The TRS candidate received 89,804 votes, while Jana Reddy secured 70,932 votes.
The BJP’s Ravi Kumar Naik could get just 7,676 votes, and forfeit his deposit.
However the BJP was hit in the back after Eatala Rajender was admitted to its ranks after he was removed from the Cabinet of the state by the chief minister K.Chandrasekhar Rao following allegations that he overran the land of certain farmers.Rajender was forced to quit Huzurabad.
Huzurabad seat and was a candidate in the by-election as a BJP candidate.
Based upon the popularity of Rajender in the district, BJP won the by-election which dealt a huge loss to TRS.
Rajender defeated his closest competitor Gellu Srinivas Yadav of TRS by 24,068 votes.Rajender scored 1,06,780 votes, while Srinivas Yadav racked up 82,712 votes.
The Congress party candidate got only 3,012 votes but was unable to secure the deposit.
It was a catastrophe for the Congress that had racked up 47,803 votes in 2018 to finish as runners-up.
BJP now hopes that , just like Rajender and Rajagopal Reddy, Rajagopal Reddy will bring the party a major win in Munugode to boost its chances in the next elections.
Given the importance of the by-election to their mission 2023, the saffron-colored party could draw in the top Central leaders.
The performance of the national executive of the party in Hyderabad in the month of April and an enormous public meeting attended by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, BJP President J.P.Nadda has already improved the spirit of BJP members in the state.
The BJP is spotting a chance to transform Telangana into a second entry point towards South India after Karnataka, the BJP is likely to go all-in to victory in Munugode.
The ruling TRS on the other side, will be trying to stop the saffron parade.After learning from the failures in Dubbaka and Huzurabad the TRS is likely to come up with an entirely new strategy.
ms/dpb
.
