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Telangana: BJP may urge EC to delay the Munugode bypoll
A senior BJP leader said on condition of anonymity that the party might request the Election Commission to hold the by-election sometime in the second half of January. Apparently, the party leadership is not keen on having the by-election immediately due to lack of preparedness.
Hyderabad
If the Bharatiya Janata Party has its way, the by-election to Munugode assembly seat in Telangana’s Nalgonda district, considered to be a semi-final to the next year’s assembly elections in the state, may get delayed at least by two months.
The seat has fallen vacant due to the resignation of sitting lawmaker Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy on August 8, after he resigned from the Congress and defected to the BJP.
The vacancy, which was immediately notified by the Telangana legislative assembly secretariat and communicated to the Election Commission of India on the same day of Reddy’s resignation, has to be filled up before February 8.
The Congress and ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi are expecting that the EC might schedule the by-election to Munugode in November along with the assembly elections to Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.
However, a senior BJP leader said on condition of anonymity that the party might request the Election Commission to hold the by-election sometime in the second half of January. Apparently, the party leadership is not keen on having the by-election immediately due to lack of preparedness.
“The BJP doesn’t have the cadre base in Munugode, or for that matter in the entire Nalgonda district, which has been the traditional bastion of the Congress and the Left parties and of late, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi. A recent survey conducted by the party has revealed that the existing cadre network is not fully geared up to face the stiff competition,” the leader said.
Though Rajagopal Reddy defected from the Congress to the BJP last month, not even 20-25 per cent of the Congress leaders and cadre followed him into the saffron party. The local BJP leadership is yet to gel with him yet as he had not maintained any relationship with the local party leaders all these days.
“Moreover, the Congress is still a strong force in Munugode with a dedicated vote bank and the TRS has been gaining strength due to support extended by the Communist parties. So, despite the personal influence of Reddy in the constituency, the BJP is finding it tough to win the seat,” the party leader said.
If the by-election is deferred by a couple of months, the BJP will get some breathing time to work out its strategies and prepare well for the fight. “It also expects that a delay in the bypoll will weaken the Congress and more leaders from the party could be lured into the BJP,” he said.
At a recent meeting in Munugode, Rajagopal Reddy said the TRS might go for early elections to the state assembly in Telangana in the first half of next year so as to avoid the by-election to Munugode.
“KCR (as the chief minister is called) doesn’t want to face the humiliation of facing the defeat of his party in the bypoll. Hence, he may dissolve the state assembly and go for early elections, so that the EC will not declare the bypoll to Munugode if there is such a short time for assembly elections,” he said.
However, senior TRS leader and state power minister G Jagadish Reddy, who is spearheading the TRS campaign in Munugode, said Rajagopal Reddy’s statement showed it was the BJP which was fearing to face by-elections to Munugode.
“Till the other day, they were saying the party is ready for the by-election anytime. But now, they have gone silent, after realising that the BJP will end up in the third position in the bypolls. Hence, they are talking of postponement of the bypoll,” the minister said.
