Munugode bypoll: Vote split fear haunts three major parties
HYDERABAD: The Munugode bypoll is becoming trickier by the day with more candidates from hitherto unknown parties throwing their hat into the ring and giving the main player -- TRS, Congress and BJP -- the jitters over splitting of votes. This become all the more worrisome for them as the candidates from the major parties had lost the battle in the previous byelections and 2018 general elections in several constituencies because of the vote split triggered by contestants from smaller parties and independents.
As it’s, TRS, Congress and BJP are expecting a neck-and-neck contest in this high-voltage election battle. The ruling TRS has not yet forgotten the Dubbaka byelection loss by a mere 1079 votes to the rival BJP as the independents queered its pitch. The closely fought election has dented the invincibility of TRS. According to observers, almost 12,000 votes were split among the independent candidates. Later in the Huzurabad byelection, too, the ruling party suffered another huge setback with its candidate Gellu Srinivas Yadav losing to BJP’s Eatala Rajender by a majority of 23,855 votes. Again the independent candidates played spoiltsport for TRS as they bagged over 8,000 votes.
Keeping this in mind, TRS and BJP are said to be working out a plan to get the independent candidates to withdraw from the Munugode bypoll. The parties that have entered the Munugode battlefield are BSP, DSP, TDP, Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS) apart from independents. Former IPS officer and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) State president Praveen Kumar and TJS chief Prof Kodanda Ram have announced Andoju Shankara Chary and Vinayakumar Goud respectively as their candidates for the byelection. The surprise entrant is the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) which is likely to announce Jakkula Ilaiah Yadav as its candidate on Thursday.
Another party that came out of the blue is Dalita Shakti Programme (DSP), whose founder Visharadhan Maharaj has announced his decision to join the Munugode fight. TDP, BSP and TJS are fielding BCs considering the fact that the Munugode Assembly constituency has a large population of backward classes in sharp contrast to the three main parties’ decision to field candidates from the Reddy community. This is another headache for the three parties as they fear that some BCs may choose to vote for the candidates from their own community and upset the victory chances of the main contestants. At least 10,000-15,000 votes are likely to be split among the independents and those from the BC community.Understandably, TRS, BJP and Congress are a worried lot and are said to be planning to hold parleys with these candidates and persuade them to withdraw their nomination.
Bandi to meet Shah in Delhi today
BJP State president Bandi Sanjay will meet Union Minister for Home Affairs Amit Shah in New Delhi on Thursday. According to sources, Sanjay is expected to discuss the Munugode byelection and will submit his report to the party’s central election committee on the strengths and weaknesses of BJP in the run-up to the bypoll. The party presidents of Haryana, UP and Telangana will explain the strategy for the byelections during the meeting. BJP is planning to hold a public meeting in Munugode on October 17, for which a key central leader is expected to be the chief guest.