NALGONDA: The most striking feature of the Munugode Assembly constituency is that development, which did not happen during the tenure of the BRS government since 2014, took place after last year’s byelection.
In 2014, BRS candidate Kusukuntla Prabhakar Reddy won the seat, and in 2018, Congress candidate Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy defeated the former. In 2022 byelection, Prabhakar Reddy regained the seat, defeating Rajagopal Reddy, who contested on the BJP ticket after resigning from the Congress.
It may be recalled that Rajagopal Reddy’s resignation necessitated the bypoll in Munugode.
There are 120 villages in seven mandals in the constituency. But a majority of them lack roads and drainage system. When he was the MLA, Rajagopal Reddy had repeatedly accused the BRS government of not sanctioning funds for the constituency’s development.
Ahead of the byelection, BRS working president and minister KT Rama Rao announced that he will adopt the constituency in a bid to wrest the seat from Rajgaopal Reddy. He promised the widening of roads in villages, creation of a revenue division with headquarters at Chandur, completion of the Charlagudem project, and allocation of Rs 25 crore each to Choutuppal and Chandur municipalities, setting up of an industrial park in Choutuppal, a 100-bed hospital, a government junior college in Chandur and a degree college in Munugode.
The government created a mandal with Ghattupall as its headquarters. Some promises kept, others yet to be fulfilled The government kept some of the promises made before the Munugode byelection. It spent Rs 200 crore to develop road network connecting 120 villages in seven mandals, created a revenue division at Chanduru, established a dialysis centre at Choutappal. The construction of building for 100-bed hospital at Choutappal is underway.
However, the promise regarding construction of the Charlagudem reservoir and establishment of degree and junior colleges are yet to be fulfilled.
N Vera Raghava Reddy of Munugode said he was impressed with the performance of the BRS government. “The BRS has kept all the promises made for Munugode. If the Congress wins, the development of the constituency will take a back seat,” he said.
MLA Kusukuntla Prabhakar Reddy said that most of the promises made in the byelection have been fulfilled. “I am going to win this election and fulfil the remaining promises,” he said.
Congress candidate Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy said that the development in the constituency was due to his resignation as MLA. He promised to complete the remaining development works after winning the seat.