HYDERABAD: Even as the initial trends suggested a neck-and-neck contest between TRS and BJP from round one of counting of votes, the TRS cadre were confident of winning the Munugode byelection.
As the victory became clear after the eighth round of counting, they went wild, cheering, bursting crackers and beating drums. The party engaged drummers and made arrangements for celebrations well in advance even before the counting had started. This evidently showed its confidence of winning the fiercely-fought byelection.
The pink party cadres raised slogans like, ‘Desh ka neta KCR’ as if they were certain that the byelection victory heralded BRS’ national entry. Incidentally, the Munugode byelection and the announcement of BRS (Bharat Rashtra Samithi) came almost at the same time. Though the TRS has a brute majority in the Assembly, it has to keep up the momentum to prevent the BJP from making inroads into Telangana. Given its national ambitions, it was important for the TRS to win Munugode, especially after losing against BJP in the Huzurabad byelection last year.
KCR toured Munugode twice
After carefully evaluating the combinations and permutations, TRS supremo and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao himself toured the Munugode constituency two times, before Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy’s resignation as Congress MLA and assigned responsibilities to his MLAs, MPs and ministers to campaign for the party candidate and to expose the “politics” and “policies” of BJP-led Central government.
Nonetheless, it was a challenge for the TRS to win the bypoll in Munugode which they had lost in the 2018. Though the TRS recorded its best performance in terms of winning seats in the last general elections, it still lost the Munugode seat to Congress.
Prabhakar not a popular pick
On top of the challenge, the TRS was troubled by the rebellion among the second-rung leadership which vehemently opposed Kusukuntla Prabhakar Reddy’s candidature, who was handpicked by the party’s supremo. Overcoming all the challenges and anti-incumbency, the TRS emerged victorious.
Congress being wiped out
With the latest victory, the TRS has further reduced the strength of Congress leaders in the Legislative Assembly. On its road to Delhi, the TRS succeeded in defeating the bigwigs of the Congress including former TPCC chief N Uttam Kumar Reddy’s wife in his own constituency (Huzurnagar), K Jana Reddy in Nagarjuna Sagar and the daughter of former five-term Munugode MLA Palvai Govardhan Reddy.