The BJP has no proper base in Munugode but it is hoping to get clandestine support from his brother Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, who is presently a Congress MP from Bhongir parliamentary constituency.
Venkat Reddy has already met Union home minister Amit Shah and has been staying away from the strategy meetings of the Congress for Munugode. “I know who will win the by-election, but I will not disclose it now,” he said.
He is sulking in the Congress party like his brother Rajagopal.
“Munugode by-poll will set the tone for next year’s assembly elections and if the BJP can win this seat, it has fair chances of wresting power from the TRS,” analysts say.
The BJP on the other hand had lost deposits in almost all the assembly seats in Nalgonda. Accounting for around six percent of the total votes polled, the party was able to bag only 12,725 votes as against 97,239 votes polled by Rajagopal Reddy from the Congress in Munugode.
Similarly, in the by-election held for the Huzurnagar assembly seat in Nalgonda district in October 2019, the BJP got 2,639 votes, accounting for only around two per cent of the vote share.
In the by-election to Nagarjunasagar assembly seat, also in Nalgonda, held in May 2021, the BJP could get only 7,676 votes, accounting for just 4 percent of the vote share.
Several southern Telangana districts, including Warangal, Nalgonda and Khammam, were dominated by Communist parties for a long time, followed by the Congress and Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS). So it is not easy for the BJP.
