HYDERABAD: To take on the TRS in the byelection for Munugode, the BJP has tweaked its strategy. It has decided to implement a three-pronged action plan. As part of it, it is now focusing more on the virtues of its candidate Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy and is trying to project him as the best compared to TRS’ K Prabhakar Reddy and Congress’ P Sravanthi.
The party is going to bank on Rajagopal Reddy’s vast experience as the MLA, MLC, MP and also as a service-oriented person who has helped hundreds of families during their difficult times. His academic credentials, his contribution to the Telangana statehood movement, and his following among the youth in his constituency are being used to create an image of him being the best suitable leader to represent Munugode.
Swing voters
Youth between the age group of 18 and 30 are going to play a crucial role in deciding the winner, as they constitute over 40 per cent of voters. They are the ones who haven’t been part of any significant scheme specially designed for them, which makes them the swing voters who may support any party, unlike the beneficiaries of welfare schemes who are assumed to be loyal to the ruling party.
The party is going to use the charisma of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the nationalistic spirit among the youth, to draw them towards BJP. The party is going to expose the failures of TRS, which has been a continuous exercise of BJP anyway, upto the village and booth level.
Four types of cadre in the mix
Another issue is that there are four types of BJP cadres working in Munugode — the traditional BJP workers, those who joined a couple of years ago, those who came from Congress along with Rajagopal Reddy, and those who are party sympathisers.
The issue is that there is a clear disconnect among all these categories of cadres, and some form of unifying mechanism needed to be worked-out and that is the reason why the party has tweaked its campaign strategy.
Another necessary effort the party has identified, is to identify voters in every village, who are politically neutral and who can influence at least 20 voters in the village. They could be shopkeepers, farmers, those settled in Hyderabad with roots in Munugode, or from any other sections.
20K votes
The influencers will be able to play a crucial role in the cutthroat contest, as BJP feels that it readily has 50,000 votes and could gain 20,000 votes through the campaign, but needs an additional 20,000 votes to win the election. To do this, the party believes that it needs to cut into 15,000 votes of Congress and 5,000 votes of the TRS.