Why Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy foisted a bypoll on Munugode?

MUNUGODE: As all the political parties have announced their candidates for the Munugode by-poll, let us look at reasons why the election is being held in the first place.

In 2018, K. Rajgopal Reddy won the Munugode Assembly seat in the Telangana General Assembly elections on a Congress ticket. Since then, there have been speculations in the media that he would change party from the Congress to the BJP.

Meanwhile, the BJP that won the Huzurabad by poll, riding on the name of Eatala Rajender, smelt blood. They opened a dialogue with Rajgopal Reddy.

Sushee Infra, a company run by Rajgopal Reddy was awarded the "development and operationalisation of Chandragupt OCP in the state of Jharkhand '', a project worth Rs 21,956.64 crore with a contract period of 25 years. This is a Coal Mining Project. (Source: Sushee Infra Website)

It was very clear this was a barter trade. The contract was awarded and within a year Rajgopal Reddy made the jump. He resigned as the MLA and is contesting now on a BJP ticket.

Why is this necessary for the BJP?

On October 5, KCR announced that his party, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), would go national and changed the name to Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS). He has been touring the country, holding dialogues with opposition parties, leaders of various farmer organizations and even distributed cheques to the families of those who lost their lives in the farmer protests last year and to martyrs of the Galwan Valley clash with China.

There is only one way to stop KCR and that is to keep him busy in the state. The BJP found a pawn in Rajgopal Reddy and asked him to resign before making him a party member. The elections are being used by the BJP to keep KCR busy in the state so that he has no time to travel around the country. This in turn helps the BJP consolidate votes and build cadre with every election.

All in all, this is an election where KCR is being caged so he doesn't pose a challenge to the BJP nationally and this is not the last of by-elections that Telangana will see before the Assembly General election in 2023. Time will tell if Rajgopal Reddy's decision to sell his seat for a 20,000 crore project was worth the trouble or not.