Telangana’s Munugode is all set to witness a triangular contest between the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi, BJP and Congress in the bypoll scheduled for November 3. With only a few days left, all three parties are burning the midnight oil to win the seat at any cost but there remains a big question mark on who will come out on top in this assembly constituency.
It seems money is an influential factor as people from different walks of life talked about the upcoming bypoll. “There are five votes in our house. I want to have my daughter’s marriage next month and will be spending Rs 5 lakh for it. Candidates are spending a lot of money, so whoever gives Rs 2,50,000 (Rs 50,000 for each vote) to our family, we will vote for them. It will help us a lot,” a 50-year-old person said.
A woman selling flowers said she had not received any money from any candidate so far and, even if she does, she will stick to her personal choice on voting day. “I got to know that they (the candidates) are distributing money to voters. I haven’t got this money so far. I have always got lunch and Rs 500 whenever I have taken part in a poll campaign. Let’s see who comes to us and how much they’ll pay. I will not refuse the money but, at the end of day, will vote for whoever I want to vote for,” she said.
A 30-year-old man said he had already earned Rs 20,000 by telling different parties that he will be joining and supporting them in the bypoll. “Whichever party you go to, they give you Rs 10,000 at the time of joining and will later give you Rs.10,000 more if it is elected to power. I have joined more than one party and earned Rs 20,000 so far. I don’t know if they will give me the remaining amount but I am getting Rs 500, biryani and liquor in the evening on a daily basis for my participation in the poll campaign, irrespective of which party I go to,” he added.
With victory in their mind, candidates from all the three major parties are using money to garner support and, above all, votes in the election. An unofficial estimate shows that they may end up spending Rs 1,000 crore.
“I just attended a caste-based meeting held by the BJP. They gave me Rs 400 and lunch. There are four votes in our house. Candidates of all parties are ready to pay us for votes. If both BJP and TRS candidates give us money, then we will divide our family’s votes equally between the two parties,” a woman said.
Candidates swung into action soon after the schedule for the bypoll was announced. They spent a huge amount of money for voters during Dasara (Dussehra) as well as Deepavali celebrations.
“During Dasara celebrations, they (candidates) gave one goat to a group of 10, they distributed liquor and even money to purchase crackers during Deepavali. Even now if I ask for some money, they will send it. If I need cash for some petty purchase, I only have to ask the village in-charges,” said Yellaiah, a native of Chinna Konduru village under Munugode constituency.
As for candidates, there are a total of 47 contesting the election, including former MLA Kusukuntla Prabhakar Reddy from the TRS, sitting MLA Komatireddy Raj Gopal Reddy from the BJP and Palvai Sravanthi Reddy of the Congress, who is the daughter of late senior Congress leader Palvai Govardhan Reddy. A bypoll was necessitated after the sitting MLA resigned from the legislative assembly and the Congress to join the BJP.
The TRS has deployed an MLA to each MPTC and one minister to each mandal in the constituency. The bypoll is a matter of prestige for the pink party, where chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, ministers KT Rama Rao and Harish Rao are working as in-charges each to a village in Munugode.
This is the first electoral test for the regional TRS after it declared that it will be going national by changing its name to Bharat Rashtra Samithi, or BRS.
“Raj Gopal Reddy sold out to the BJP and forced a bypoll in the constituency. He secured civil contracts worth Rs 18,000 crore after he joined the saffron party. During his three-year tenure as MLA, no development took place. You can see for yourself the kind of development that happened when I was MLA. If we win, we will definitely complete all pending works on a war footing,” Kusukuntla Prabhakar Reddy told News18.
The BJP has taken the bypoll as a challenge and fears that its national image may suffer a dent if it fails to send Raj Gopal to the legislative assembly. By winning this seat, the party wants to send out a “feel-good” signal ahead of the assembly elections in 2023. It is also trying its best to send out feelers on the notion that the BJP is the alternative to the TRS.
So, state as well as national leaders of the BJP, such as state president Bandi Sanjay Kumar, MLAs Raghunandan Rao and Etala Rajender, are intensifying their canvassing for Raj Gopal.
“The TRS has been misusing the official machinery and transporting money in police escort vehicles. It is also trying to lure voters by distributing money and liquor. Illegal activities of the ruling party will not work. A total of 100 MLAs from the ruling party have been deployed to defeat one sitting MLA. What is the need to deploy all the MLAs here (Munugode)? If KCR has really done some good work for the people, why are so many people required for the poll campaign? I am categorically saying that I resigned only for the sake of the development of this constituency. Would KCR have visited Munugode if I did not tender my resignation? Will KTR adopt the constituency? Will they implement development and welfare programmes in the constituency?” asked Raj Gopal, while talking to News18.
Rubbishing allegations made by the ruling party on his contracts, the BJP candidate said he had been a businessman since 1985 and advised his opponents to differentiate between politics and business.
The MLA has been active in state politics in the Nalgonda district, of which Munugode is part, for the past two decades. His brother has represented Bhongir in Lok Sabha as a Congress leader. In fact, his brother has distanced himself from Congress candidate Sravanthi’s campaign, while a purported audio clip of him phoning Congress leaders to vote for his brother in the bypoll had become a hot topic in Munugode.
Sravanthi, meanwhile, has tried her best to “expose” the BJP and TRS during her poll campaign. Congress state president Revanth Reddy is also taking an active part in the poll campaign and has put in all effort to win the seat.
“Munugode has been a fortress of the Congress for decades. The political history of our family will definitely increase my chances of winning the seat. There are so many poll strategies against my candidature, but nothing will stop me from winning the seat. People are with me. Whatever money and liquor the BJP and TRS are distributing to people, they (voters) support me. These parties are turning children into alcohol addicts. Though I proposed to conduct the elections without distributing liquor, none of the party candidates came forward to support me,” Sravanthi told News18.
Are desertions going to influence the elections?
Political parties are putting in all effort to lure communities with over two lakh votes. The BJP poached former MP Boora Narsaiah Goud of the TRS to attract the voters from the Goud community, who make up 15 per cent of the constituency’s population.
Countering this, the TRS took away senior BJP leaders Swamy Goud, who served as chairman to the state legislative council, Palle Ravi and Dasoju Shravan. The TRS working president, KT Rama Rao, also tried attracting voters by conducting meetings with the caste-based associations separately.
It looks like the youth are more inclined towards the BJP as compared to other political parties. “The BJP is nothing but Hindutva. It is the only political party that protects our culture. The TRS in association with the AIMIM has been hoodwinking Hindus. No DSC (for government teacher posts) examination has been conducted in the state in the last eight years. Unemployed youth are waiting for jobs. Promises made (by the TRS) in the 2014 elections have not been fulfilled and it’s the party’s practice to cheat people through different modes. The only way to teach them a lesson is by defeating the TRS candidate in the bypoll,” said Praveen from Koyyalagudem in Choutuppal mandal.
What about voters’ mandate?
The Telangana Journalist Adhyayana Vedika, a platform for Telangana journalists who study various issues, has thoroughly studied the poll campaign trend in Munugode.
“In general, by-elections are favourable to the ruling party. The same may happen here (Munugode). Though there is an emotional angle towards the BJP, most voters are of the opinion that development will take place with the ruling party. Desertions will not have much of an impact on the poll outcome,” said senior journalist Bodhanapalli Venugopal Reddy.
According to him, the sympathy factor is also working in favour of the Congress over the past four days. If the female sentiment and traditional vote bank for the Congress is added to the sympathy factor, the grand old party winning chances may improve in the coming days.
When it comes to the BJP candidate, the Telangana Journalist Adhyayana Vedika analysed that people had high expectations from Raj Gopal. Though voters have a good opinion about the BJP candidate, his poll prospects will depend on their understanding of how far he will go when it comes to using money as an effective tool.
The CM, meanwhile, is all set to campaign in Munugode on Sunday. The much-awaited public meeting by BJP national president JP Nadda on October 31 has been cancelled.
(Persons who shared their opinions with News18 have not been named on their request to be anonymous)
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