While Rajagopal is on a strong wicket with BJP support, Congress and TRS have to choose from among the many aspirants lined up to take him on.
Rajagopal Reddy resigned as Telangana Assembly legislator in August. (Rajagopal Reddy/Facebook)
The die has been cast. Munugode MLA Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy has resigned as legislator. He handed over his resignation letter to Telangana Assembly Speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy in the latter’s chamber in the Assembly on Monday, 8 August.
The ball now is in the court of the Speaker on when he would act on it.
The Election Commission, after receipt of communication from the Speaker about the vacancy, will notify a by-election within six months of the date on which the seat fell vacant.
Rajagopal Reddy’s resignation was not without the necessary fireworks and optics.
Before handing over his resignation in the appropriate format, he first paid homage to the Telangana martyrs at the Martyrs’ Column in front of the state Assembly. He then slammed the PCC president A Revanth Reddy and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao for their unilateral decisions and dictatorial ways of functioning.
Rajagopal Reddy’s resignation letter. (Supplied)
He breathed fire at Revanth Reddy, in particular, for not giving any importance to the seniors in the Congress who have been with the party for decades. “It is a shame that Revanth, who served a term in jail, should speak in an abusive language against me,” he said
In his tirade against Chandrasekhar Rao, he said that Telangana, which became a reality after close to 1,400 youths laid down their lives, is being held prisoner by one family. “I am resigning in protest against the unbridled corruption of KCR and his family which has resulted in development taking a backseat,” he said.
Rajagopal Reddy kicked up a political storm when he first quit the party by shooting off a letter to Congress President Sonia Gandhi a few days ago.
Now the decks have been cleared for him to join the saffron party at an appropriate time.
As Rajagopal Reddy has a considerable following in his constituency, he may not find the going tough with BJP imparting necessary momentum to his campaign.
The TRS is likely to give a tough fight and, in the event of losing, it could always say it was not counting on it since it was not its seat.
The Congress, though it has already organised a massive public meeting in the constituency, is yet to zero in on probables for the by-election, though the names of Cheruku Sudhakar, who merged his Telangana Inti Party in Congress, and former Rajya Sabha member late Palvai Govardhan Reddy’s daughter Sravanthi.
The TRS is yet to get its act together, though there are quite a number of aspirants for the seat, including the chairman of the legislative council G Sukhender Reddy — and if age is considered a factor against him, he wants his son Amit be considered for tto he seat.
The other aspirants include Kancharla Krishna Reddy, who is the brother of Nalgonda MLA K Bhupal Reddy, and K Prabhakar Reddy, who lost the election from Munugode in 2018 against Rajagopal Reddy.
