Munugode a pyrrhic victory for TRS MLAs
NALGONDA: The Munugode byelection victory, instead of bringing cheers, is causing panic among the ruling party MLAs and leaders in the erstwhile Nalgonda district. They are of the view that the victory came at a great expense and took the ruling party to use every resource and stratagem at its disposal to scrape through with a mere 10,309 vote majority over the rival BJP candidate Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy. Even after the party roped in ministers, MLAs and other public representatives and campaigned extensively throughout the constituency, TRS’ invincibility came into question.
The ruling party out of fear of losing the bypoll had quickly taken the support of Left parties at the last minute after seeing the writing on the wall. In spite of all this, the BJP candidate had gained a lead in 112 of the total 298 booths in the constituency. The district leaders worry that all these are not good signs for TRS in the next general elections. They have a lot of work to do and campaign extensively in their constituency. Most of the MLAs in the district feel that even Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s charisma would not work as he is unlikely to address more than one public meeting in each constituency in the next year's elections.
The combined Nalgonda district has 12 Assemblies and two Lok Sabha constituencies. While TRS bagged 11 Assembly seats, the Congress had won the Munugode constituency, which now is in the kitty of the ruling party after the byelection. The two Lok Sabha seats were won by Congress.
In the survey report submitted by political strategist Prashant Kishor eight months ago, it was stated that the support base of the ruling party MLAs in Kodada, Nalgonda and Nagarjunasagar constituencies was eroding.
BJP eyes the disgruntled
BJP leaders have reportedly made a list of disgruntled leaders in the TRS and the Congress who they plan to woo to strengthen the party base in the Nalgonda district