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Those outside Telangana and neighbouring Andhra Pradesh may have never heard of Munugode, about 85 km from Hyderabad in Nalgonda district, and most would be unaware of the high-decibel campaign unleashed by three parties for a bypoll on Thursday but the stakes couldn’t be higher for the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, the Congress and the BJP.
The three parties have pulled out all the stops in their bid to emerge victorious, with promises to woo the voters running hand in hand with allegations and counter allegations by the three parties. The result of the bypoll, seen as a precursor to the 2023 assembly elections, will be declared on November 6. The bypoll was necessitated after Komatireddy Raj Gopal Reddy quit the Congress and also as MLA in August and joined the BJP.
The BJP considers the bypoll a gateway to capturing the south. On the other hand, TRS believes a positive result here will propel the party to power for the third time in 2023. Congress desperately needs to win here as it held the seat and sees a positive result as a must for a recovery in the state.
The contestants
The three main players are Komatireddy Raj Gopal Reddy of BJP, Kusukuntla Prabhakar Reddy of TRS and Palvai Sravanthi of Congress.
What’s at stake
TRS: The party, recently renamed as Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), aims to demonstrate its dominance in state politics and go national with a big win here. The message the K Chandrasekhar Rao-led party would like to send at the national level is that it can take on the BJP and win. A loss in the bypoll would hamper not only its national plans but also embolden the opposition ahead of the assembly polls.
BJP: The party is on a high following its victories in Dubbak and Huzurabad assembly bypolls and also the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation election in the last two years. The recent wins has given the BJP a newfound energy and it is hoping for yet another upset of the regional incumbent. A victory in Munugode will give a push to its plans to emerge as the alternative to TRS. Even if it ends up as the runner-up behind the TRS, it can still claim to be the main opposition, leaving the Congress in the third spot.
Congress: For the beleaguered grand old party, it is almost a do or die battle in view of its below par performances in the 2014 and 2018 assembly elections and the subsequent bypolls. If Congress loses, it would be a double whammy for the party as Munugode was its sitting seat. A win would give it the much required boost ahead of the state polls in 2023.
Campaign themes
TRS: The party’s campaign focussed on the state government’s welfare schemes. TRS working president and state minister KT Rama Rao said he will adopt Munugode if TRS wins the bypoll. The party told voters the by-election was forced on them by Raj Gopal Reddy.
BJP: The party focused on informal and friendly interaction with voters during door-to-door campaign. Netas entered homes and were seen discussing lunch and dinner plans, and even shared recipes. BJP leaders called up family members of voters who were not at home during the household outreach programme.
Congress: The party went to voters portraying Palvai Sravanthi as the ‘daughter’ of Munugode. Sravanthi is the daughter of Congress leader Palvai Govardhan Reddy, who represented Munugode for five terms. The party tried to donwplay BJP’s presence in Munugode and Sravanthi said the bypoll was a fight between Congress and TRS and BJP was not even in the race.
The controversies

  • The TRS has alleged that the BJP was trying to lure four of its MLAs with offers of huge sums of cash, important positions and contracts. According to the party, the MLAs were offered Rs 100 crore, besides central government contracts and government positions. They told police that they were warned that if they did not join the BJP, there would be criminal cases and raids by ED/CBI and the Telangana government led by TRS would be toppled.
  • KTR alleged that Raj Gopal Reddy had bagged a contract worth 22,000 crore for his firm Sushee Infra & Mining Limited after he quit Congress and joined BJP. “I heard that Amit Shah told some people that Raj Gopal is ready to spend about Rs 500 crore in Munugode election in which he will contest as a BJP candidate. Going by the number of voters, he is ready to spend Rs 30,000 on each voter,” KTR had alleged.
  • The TRS alleged that Raj Gopal Reddy transferred Rs 5.24 crore from his family-owned firm’s account to 23 people and entities within the constituency. Responding to an EC letter, Reddy rejected the allegations, including any “formal relationship” with the firm. The BJP candidate, the EC letter said, also denied all 23 alleged bank transactions “categorically, one by one”.

Fun facts

  • Over 60% of the electorate in Munugode reportedly belongs to the backward classes
  • Munugode was once a Left stronghold with CPI winning the segment in 1985, 1989, 1994, 2004 and 2009
  • Nalgonda district has been a Congress stronghold and the party won two Lok Sabha constituencies (Nalgonda and Bhongir) in the district in the 2019 general elections

(With inputs from agencies)



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