HYDERABAD: With barely hours to go before Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao launches the TRS campaign in Munugode on Saturday, to be followed by a public meeting organised by the BJP that is to be addressed by Union minister Amit Shah the next day, both parties are on tenterhooks, the size of crowd turning into a matter of prestige for both sides.
Incidentally, the venues for the two meetings are barely three km apart in Munugode. The TRS’ meeting venue is on the Munugode-Hyderabad road, while the BJP is preparing its ground on the other side of the town on the Munugode-Chandur road.
While the TRS has thrown everything it can into organising the public meeting, with minister G. Jagadish Reddy overseeing the preparations for the meeting on Saturday, and its party MLAs fanning out into the constituency to mobilse crowds, the BJP accused the TRS of threatening people not to attend its meeting on Sunday. For the BJP, the major responsibility for organising the meeting has been given to Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy, who resigned from his Munugode MLA seat and the Congress. He will formally join the BJP at the Amit Shah meeting.
Munugode constituency, little heard of till recently until Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy resigned, has emerged as a key battle ground for the TRS and the BJP with both sides viewing the final outcome from the bypoll there as a precursor to the outcome of Assembly polls next year.
The TRS is hoping that its leaders will be able to meet the target of mobilising between 10,000 and 15,000 people from each of the seven mandals in the constituency for Chandrashekar Rao’s meeting.
Some BJP leaders, meanwhile, appeared a little despondent on Friday and worried over people turning up for the Amit Shah meeting. While Rajgopal Reddy carries much of the weight of organising the meeting, helping him out are senior party leaders A.P. Jithender Reddy, Etala Rajendar, and Konda Vishweshwar Reddy.
Rajendar told reporters that the TRS was creating hurdles for his party’s meet and asking people not to attend the meeting on Sunday. “It is becoming a headache,” another party leader said, worried over how the Amit Shah meeting will turn out to be.
To ensure a sizable crowd, the BJP was also planning to mobilise people from undivided Nalgonda, Warangal, Ranga Reddy and Mahbubnagar districts, party leaders said. Party senior leader Gudur Narayana Reddy said the BJP was all set to conduct the biggest meeting in the former unified Nalgonda district.
