MUNUGODE: The bypoll contest between the BJP and the TRS in Munugode is yet another ‘Kurukshetra’, where truth and honesty of the Bharatiya Janata Party will defeat the conspiracies and machinations of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti, state BJP president Bandi Sanjay Kumar declared on Tuesday.
On the last day of the campaign for Munugode byelection, Sanjay told reporters that it will be the BJP flag that will fly high when votes are counted on November 6.
“Our party followed every guideline and rule of electioneering and everyone in the party worked hard. I thank all government officials and staff, particularly the police force which operated under tough conditions,” Sanjay said. He appealed to voters to cast their ballots for BJP candidate, Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy.
The fierce contest between the BJP and the TRS began with a large public meeting on August 21 addressed by Union home minister Amit Shah, who welcomed Rajgopal Reddy into the BJP fold. This was consequent to Rajgopal Reddy’s resignation from the Congress and his seat as Munugode MLA, setting off a fierce byelection contest.
The BJP campaign saw the party’s state leadership take to campaigning, with characteristic vigour, led by its president Bandi Sanjay Kumar. It also saw Union minister G. Kishan Reddy make several rounds, addressing a large number of rallies and street side meetings, even as senior national party leaders Sunil Bansal, Tarun Chugh and Aravind Menon often visited the constituency to oversee campaign strategies.
Pitching in hard were party MLAs Etala Rajendar and M. Raghunandan Rao, two ‘R’s of the ‘RRR’ the BJP has in the Assembly, with the third, T. Raja Singh, in prison under a judicially contested arrest under the Preventive Detention Act.
Several other leaders including Dr K. Laxman, G. Vivek Venkatswamy, who coordinated the campaign, D.K. Aruna and movie star Vijayashanti joined in.
The BJP plea throughout the campaign was that Rajgopal Reddy believed his resignation was a necessity because the KCR-led TRS government did nothing for people of the constituency in the past four years. The TRS ignored Munugode’s development. There was no other option but to resign, join the BJP and contest a bypoll to force the TRS government's hand to rush in with development here.
