Game on: With TRS picking its Munugode candidate, battle lines are now clearly drawn

The Congress, which has always considered Munugode as its bastion, has already announced Palvai Sravanthi as its candidate for the seat.

Prabhakar Reddy has been the in-charge of the party for the Munugode constituency since he lost the election in 2018 to Congress candidate Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy, who is contesting now on a BJP ticket after resigning as MLA of the Grand Old Party recently.

TRS active on the ground

Though it was the last to announce its candidate, the TRS has been active on the ground, seeking to consolidate the voters in its favour. KCR addressed a public meeting recently at Munugode, where the CPI pledged its support to the party.

The CPI(M) too expressed solidarity a few days later, as both the parties want to see the defeat of their ideological foe BJP and its nominee Rajagopal Reddy.

The two Left parties hold sway over some segments of the constituency.

The TRS, whose name has been changed to BRS, is waiting for the Election Commission of India to make the necessary changes on its records. As it might take some time, Prabhakar Reddy will be filing his nomination papers as TRS candidate.

The TRS is already buoyant after the momentous occasion on Dussehra on 5 October when the party general body passed a unanimous resolution for the change of its name to BRS.

The high-profile event hogged the limelight not only in the entire state but across the nation. This momentum is expected to keep Prabahakar Reddy ahead of others in his campaign in the by-election.

1st step in KCR’s national ambitions

The by-election is being seen as KCR’s first baby-step towards realising his national ambition for which he had upgraded his party into BRS, a party with a national character and appeal.

By the time Election Commission of India sounded the bugle for the by-election, TRS already had got its act together, though it was working silently, sensitising party workers in villages in Munugode constituency and galvanising them to work with redoubled enthusiasm once the notification is out.

మునుగోడు ఉపఎన్నికలో టీఆర్ఎస్ అభ్యర్థిగా పోటీ చేయనున్న @Koosukuntla_TRS గారికి సీఎం కేసీఆర్ గారు పార్టీ బీఫామ్ ను అందజేసారు. ఎన్నికల ఖర్చు నిమిత్తం పార్టీ నిధి నుంచి రూ.40 లక్షల చెక్కును అందించారు. అభ్యర్థిగా అవకాశమిచ్చినందుకు సీఎం కేసీఆర్ కు ప్రభాకర్ రెడ్డి కృతజ్జతలు తెలిపారు. pic.twitter.com/EIgDx5ts9X

— BRS Party (@BRSparty) October 7, 2022

KCR is expected to address a huge public meeting at Chandur, a municipal town in the constituency, a few days before polling day.

Now that the electoral process is on, the party has taken a headlong plunge into campaigning. The leaders are banking heavily on KCR’s charm and the welfare schemes the government has implemented to work their magic on the day of reckoning.

Energy Minister G Jagadeeswar Reddy, who hails from the erstwhle Nalgonda district, is spearheading the campaign and implementation of micro-level election strategies.

Besides Jagadeeswar Reddy, ministers KT Rama Rao and T Harish Rao are also stepping into the bullring. That the TRS is going to deploy as many as 86 leaders, including ministers, MLAs and MLCs, is evidence enough that the party does not want to lose the by-election, lest it should indicate that the fortunes of the TRS are on a downhill trend.

Rivalry with Eatala

Another factor that made the party take the by-election seriously is the fact that Huzurabad MLA and BJP leader Eatala Rajender is going to play a key role in organising the saffron party’s campaign which, if ground reports are to be believed, is not going as smoothly as expectd.

The TRS, which has not forgotten the humiliation of defeat in the hands of Rajender in Huzurabad, wants to avenge the scorn by taking the BJP Goliath down.

The thrust of the TRS campaign will be establishing direct contact with the voters. For this purpose, one leader has been assigned to a population of every 2,000 people. The workers under this leader would keep visiting the voters and make all-out efforts to influence their decision in favour of the TRS.

Realising that overconfidence was a key reason for the reverse it suffered in Huzurabad, the TRS wants to prevent a repeat of the disaster. The party is already trying to ensure that the votes of the CPI and CPM are funneled to the TRS nominee while making every attempt possible to dig into the Congress vote bank which is a main threat to the TRS.

The party leaders are trying to ensure that the Congress votes do not transfer to the BJP and this is the area where the party leaders are paying keen attention.

They do not want to spare any effort, both fair or foul, to win the voters. After all, in war and politics, winning makes all the difference, no matter how.