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Palvai Sravanthi is Congress party pick for crucial Munugode byelection

Daughter of former Rajya Sabha member, the late Palvai Govardhan Reddy, Sravanthi comes from a family has some goodwill in Munugode.

ByRaj Rayasam

Published Sep 09, 2022 | 3:26 PM ⚊UpdatedSep 09, 2022 | 3:28 PM

Palvai Sravanthi, the Congress candidate. (Preetham_inc/twitter)

Bringing down the curtain on the suspense over who will be the Congress nominee for Munugode Assembly seat, which is set for a byelection, the party high command announced the name of Palvai Sravanthi, daughter of former Rajya Sabha member late Palvai Govardhan Reddy.

AICC General Secretary Mukul Wasnik, in an official communication on Friday, 9 September, announced her name at a time when those of several others were doing the rounds as possible candidates.

They included Challamalla Krishna Reddy, Palle Ravi Kumar, and Cheruku Sudhakar, who recently merged his Telangana Inti Party in the Congress, hoping to get the party nomination.

Revanth Reddy report

Before the AICC announced its decision, it had gone through the report that TPCC president A Revanth Reddy submitted on probables for the seat, explaining their strengths and weaknesses.

Party circles believe that for Palvai Sravanthi to win over her immediate rival and sitting MLA Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy, she would have to match him with vast resources which she apparently does not have.

Though the Palvai family has goodwill in the constituency and Govardhan Reddy having been elected to the Assembly several times, the Rajagopal Reddy factor is the main issue in the election as he would be in the fray as BJP candidate.

The BJP has been loudly proclaiming that its stock is up all over the state and winning the Munugode seat would be as easy as snatching candy from a child.

It’s all about money power

Sravanthi would have to reckon also with the TRS, which too has unlimited resources. It has not yet announced its candidate, but whoever it would be, he would be flush with funds.

For the Congress to win the seat, it would have to retain the entire Congress vote bank, poach into those of the TRS as well as the communists, who have some sway in the constituency.

If she simply ends up splitting the vote between her and Rajagopal, it will be a godsend for the TRS, and if she allows the entire chunk to go to the BJP as happened in 2018, it would be a development that Rajagopal would gloat about.

For Sravanthi to win the seat, she would have to sweat it out as she is being pitted against, not one, but two Goliaths.