Hyderabad: Although the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) won the Munugode bypoll after a tough battle with the BJP, the real story from the bypoll was that of the Congress. In a state that was once a major source of his electoral strength, fueling his two consecutive terms at the center in 2004 and 2009, the election result shows the downward spiral of the party. Although former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi is often credited with the formation of Telangana—even by TRS leader and Chief Minister KCR—the Congress has been unable to make political gains from it since 2014, after Telangana was removed from Andhra Pradesh. The anger of the bifurcation of the state and the loss of Hyderabad ensured that the Congress disappeared in Andhra Pradesh as well. In the 2018 Telangana elections, the party won 19 assembly seats out of 117. Uttam Kumar Reddy became an MP and resigned as an MLA in 2019. In the same year, 12 MLAs moved to the ruling TRS which already had a raw majority, leaving the Congress with just six seats. The rebels split the legislative party, thereby avoiding penalties under the anti-defection law. The Congress was left humiliated as it lost its opposition party status in the assembly. It was against this backdrop that Munugode began to emerge as a test case for the national party to prove it was still in the reckoning in the state. Munugode was a Congress stronghold, which was won by Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy in 2018. Mr Reddy resigned from the party, switching to the BJP in August this year. The Congress chose Palvai Sravanthi, whose father had served the district for a long time. They also hoped that the 1.2 lakh women voters would support her at a time when TRS and BJP are betting big on liquor. But against the TRS and the BJP, the Congress had no money to spend. His leadership’s attention was divided between the bypoll and Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra that passed through the state a week before the elections. Despite being in the state, Rahul Gandhi stayed away from the Munugode campaign. Senior leaders dismissed it as “just a side poll” – a stark contrast to the TRS, which was fighting as if the survival of its government depended on it. Even with the disclaimer that a bypoll cannot be taken as a deciding factor for the assembly elections, with the Congress a distant third to Munugode, it looks like the party will lose the narrative of even being in the race for formation of a government in 2023. Political analysts say what worked for the TRS was to partner with the Communist Party of India (CPI) in an assembly where the Left party has significant influence. The anger against former MLA Komatireddy Rajagopal for switching sides also helped the TRS as it won the votes of those who wanted to see him defeated. Locals say the votes Mr. Rajagopal got were not because of the BJP, but because of his own profile and the goodwill he earned by handing out money generously. Many say that if Mr. Rajagopal had contested again as a Congress candidate or as an Independent, the TRS could not have won. For TRS, it is a double win. They managed to keep the BJP at bay. Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy, who was very influential in Nalgonda along with his brother Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, has been restrained and the Congress is also likely to crack down, perhaps even expel his rebel brother, a senior leader and MP. The BJP is also unlikely to be too unhappy, even though it lost only after putting up a good fight. They managed to come second even without a major executive or leaders in Munugode, just relying on a leader who could influence voters on his own. This would help them build the narrative and perception that they are candidates to challenge the TRS in the 2023 elections, having left the Congress far behind. However, a victory could give the BJP a big boost, creating momentum for the party to attract and induct new talent from other parties, making up for the lack of cadres and leadership in the districts.
