Munugode Matters Part 3: Congress voters are not quite flocking to the BJP fold

The Congress workers, who were solidly with him earlier, are now with the party — and they are questioning why they should play to Rajagopal Reddy’s tune.

The whisper campaigns of the TRS and the Congress that he defected to the BJP for personal gain seems to have caught on with the Congress workers.

The Election Commission is likely to notify the by-election next month, and the political parties are not out in the open, yet. The election is likely to be held in November or December.

Few takers for Rajagopal’s arguments

Rajagopal Reddey’s reasoning that the TRS government had starved Munugode of funds because he was Congress MLA seems to be boomeranging on him.

The rival parties are yet to come out campaigning openly in Munugode. (Raj Rayasam/South First)

In several villages in the constituency, many people argue that he should not have joined the BJP as it is again an Opposition party and, moreover, the TRS hates the BJP more than it loathes the Congress.

In this scenario, even the few coppers that the TRS government used to throw into the constituency would stop, because he is now representing the BJP, Mallesh, a farmer in Mohammadabad in Samsthan Narayanpur mandal, told South First.

Rajagopal Reddy is finding it difficult to get traction with the people. His only USP is he is forthcoming to help anyone in distress financially.

“Except helping financially those who are recommended by his loyalists, he has not done anything for the constituency. We cannot believe that the government has not released any funds for the constituency,” a Congress worker said.

Initial enthusiasm wanes

Though the BJP leadership was initially upbeat over the party gaining currency in the district, they seem to have realised that the enthusiasm was cooling off.

After Union Home Minister Amit Shah addressed a well-attended public meeting in August — at which Rajagopal Reddy formally joined the BJP — the tempo continued for some time, but slowly it began fizzling out.

Now and then, one gets to see Rajagopal Reddy’s campaign vehicles moving in villages and towns, playing appeals to the people to vote for the lotus symbol.

Ground-level reports from those familiar with the constituency have warned the party is being over-confident and needs to address several issues if it is to make a mark in Munugode.

Shah, when he was in Hyderabad for the 17 September “Liberation Day”  event, had asked the party leaders to get into the act quickly and motivate the party cadres.

He wanted them to constitute three-tier committees — one at the village level, one at the constituency level, and one at the state level — for all the 190 villages of Munugode.

But on ground in Munugode, coordination is something that seems to be visibly lacking, even as the TRS is stealing a march over the BJP by “buying” village-level leaders from the Congress and pacifying the party’s own disgruntled activists.

Rajagopal’s attitude problem

The people in villages in Munugode South First spoke to, feel that Rajagopal Reddy has a problem mixing with the masses.

“He is supercilious and very overbearing. This is the reason why no one wants to go near him. He is not accessible and one has to take the support of his trusted agents to reach him,” a village-level analyst in Kompalli in Munugode mandal said.

Though BJP has some presence in the constituency, no effort is being made to ensure synergy between them and Rajagopal Reddy’s supporters.

BJP state vice president G Manohar Reddy, who contested unsuccessfully from Munugode in the last election, sounds off, saying that the BJP would win the election.

He told South First: “The BJP can outsmart TRS. We will win the election.”

But the saffron party should watch out for pitfalls or its aggressive campaign that it is the alternative to the TRS, could run aground.

Munugode Snapshot: 2018 Assembly Election

Party      Candidate                                   Votes      %       
INC        Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy   99,239    50.51
TRS        Kusukuntla Prabhakar Reddy     61,687     30.13
BJP        Gangidi Manohar Reddy            12,725      8
IND       Manga Venkatesh Kuruma          3,569       1.79