Hyderabad, Oct. 20
The by-election to Dubbak constituency has become an issue of prestige as well as a key to the fate of many leaders. For the Congress party, the by-election is of greater significance than the Karimnagar Lok Sabha by-election years ago, which was to fill in K. Chandrashekar Rao’s Lok Sabha seat in the-then undivided Andhra Pradesh.
At the time of Karimnagar by polls, late Dr Y.S. Rajashekhara Reddy deployed ministers as in-charges for each assembly constituency and MLAs as in-charges for each mandal. It is a strategy that the Congress is repeating for Dubbak by-election.
The Congress party is fighting to not only try to inflict an unlikely victory against the ruling TRS party but must at the very least ensure it gets more votes than the BJP. In order to ensure they at least come a fighting second, Telangana Congress state in-charge Manickam Tagore has appointed state-level leaders as booth in-charges.
The importance of the by-election to Congress became undeniably clear when MPs like Komatireddy took charge of Daulatabad mandal and Revant Reddy of Mirdoddi mandal. Komatireddy declared publicly that he would get at least 100 votes more from his mandal than the TRS. Mr Revant Reddy is striving hard to ensure his party gains an upper hand over the pink party in Mirdoddi. Similarly, former deputy CM Damodar Rajanarsinh, is trying to ensure a Congress victory in Thoguta mandal.
TPCC chief Uttam Kumar Reddy is leading the overall camping across the constituency and aggressively attacking both the TRS and BJP in his addresses, which have been getting good response from the people.
Political lobbies in Telangana speculate that this election could also become a matter of importance for Telangana Congress state in-charge Manickam Tagore. This is the first electoral tussle for the party after he took charge and people wonder if beginner’s luck would be working for him. A victory could spur the party further.
Tagore’s political approach has led to many good changes for the party. With the support of Uttam Kumar Reddy, Tagore has brought great cohesiveness to the Telangana Congress. Both of them are personally monitoring and reviewing every development in Dubbak.
Some political watchers observe that Dubbak by-election might be the flagging off of the Congress party’s official launch of the 2023 assembly election campaign.
Despite serious efforts, scuttlebutt in the party corridors are saying that the party is not too optimistic of a positive result. The ruling TRS party’s aggressive campaign, with its unmatched money power and tacit to blatant support from officials, besides an active campaign by the BJP, is giving the Congress party a tough time.
