HYDERABAD: With Congress announcing Palvai Sravanthi as its candidate for the upcoming Munugode Assembly bypoll on Friday and Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy's candidature from the BJP looking certain, all eyes are on the TRS to announce its nominee.
As the Congress and the BJP candidates belong to the Reddy community, the TRS leadership's stand assumes significance over whether it too wants to opt for a Reddy candidate or choose a candidate from among the BCs to lure voters of the group who comprise a majority in the constituency.
The tussle between Reddy and BC community leaders has forced the TRS leadership to keep the announcement of the candidate pending. With the main contestants in the field, a TRS announcement is likely soon.
As of now, the TRS leadership is reportedly in favour of giving ticket to Kusukuntla Prabhakar Reddy, who won in 2014 but lost to the Congress in 2018. Energy minister G. Jagadish Reddy, TRS in-charge for Munugode bypoll, is pitching for Prabhakar Reddy's candidature and lobbying hard to secure a ticket for him. Jagadish Reddy is ensuring that only Prabhakar Reddy accompanies him in all his election meetings and is trying to send signals to the party's rank and file as well as voters that he will be the party's candidate for the bypoll.
Leaders from the BC community in Nalgonda district are vehemently opposed to giving Prabhakar Reddy a ticket, claiming that his loss of goodwill among Munugode voters caused him to lose the 2018 polls, and that if he ran again his prospects of winning were slim.
They demand that a candidate from the BC community, which has a sizable population in the constituency, be given the party's ticket. Prominent BC community leaders who are seeking a ticket for Munugode byelections include Bhongir former Lok Sabha member Boora Narsaiah Goud and former MLC Karne Prabhakar. It remains to be seen whether the party leadership wants to make this bypoll a battle between candidates from the Reddy community or between the Reddy and BC communities.
