Battle of high-octane campaigning ends in Munugode before Nov.3 ballot fight

MUNUGODE: After an aggressively-fought, high-octane campaigning battle for well over a month, the blaring loudspeakers and mikes have finally fallen silent in Munugode as the deadline ended at 6 pm on Tuesday. A flurry of road shows, rallies, sporadic incidents and last-minute mass-contact efforts by all the political parties marked the last day of campaigning, two days before the scheduled polling on November 3.

A few incidents of violence marred what was otherwise an engrossing final day of vote-seeking. A group of TRS activists became the target of a hail of stones in an attack allegedly carried out by the BJP men at Palivela. The incident happened when the TRS workers were on their way to take part in KTR's roadshow in Narayanpur and the BJP men were accused of resorting to violence right in the presence of BJP MLA Etala Rajender. A few TRS activists sustained bleeding injuries in the incident. The two parties traded charges and counter-charges, blaming each other for the incident.

The TRS was in the forefront of the final-day campaigning with a series of roadshows and whirlwind tours across the length and breadth of Munugode. TRS Working President K T Rama Rao took out a roadshow in Narayanpur mandal and appealed to people to not be swayed by enticements and cast their vote thoughtfully. He said that time had come to choose between 'Rythu Bandu or raabandu (vulture).' He promised to transform Munugode into a well-developed constituency in the next 14 months.KTR marked the end of the vigorous campaigning drive of the TRS by addressing a press conference at Telangana Bhavan in Hyderabad in the evening. He said that the Munugode by-election symbolised a classic fight between 'monagallu and mosagallu (heroes and conmen)'. He alleged that the BJP was already resigned to its fate in Munugode, a fact that was established by the attack carried out on the TRS activists in Palivela on Tuesday.

Another key TRS leader Harish Rao too conducted a roadshow in Chandur mandal to drum up maximum support for the party's candidate Kusukuntla Prabhakar Reddy. Harish Rao too echoed similar sentiments like KTR while referring to the attacks on their partymen. While alleging that the BJP had already sensed the ominous signs, he appealed to his party cadre to exercise maximum restraint to tame the saffron party at the hustings. The TRS, buoyed by the recent survey reports predicting a clear victory, has left no stone unturned till the last minute in its voter outreach initiative.

For the BJP, its Telangana president Bandi Sanjay and senior leaders including D K Aruna made an aggressive vote-pitching on the last day of the campaigning. BJP candidate Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy too went full steam going around the constituency to maximise his efforts in his attempt to retain the seat. Like it has been happening in the last several days, the BJP candidate, who switched his loyalties from the Congress and caused the by-election, was greeted with protests and opposition from both the TRS men and the general public.Even Bandi Sanjay had to feel the heat at the hands of some TRS activists at a few places during his roadshow in Chandur. The BJP state chief, at one place, even had a heated argument with the police alleging that they remained mute spectators to the disruptions being caused to his roadshow by the TRS men. Exuding confidence that the BJP was all set to win the Munugode Assembly seat, he accused KCR of plotting to get the by-election postponed with a wave of violence.

He claimed that all the surveys were projecting that the BJP candidate Rajgopal Reddy would win hands down from the constituency.

The Congress party, on the other hand, made a last-ditch attempt at impressing the women voters by organising a grand meeting themed 'Aadabiddala Aatma Gourava Sabha'. Speaking at the meeting, TPCC president Revanth Reddy tried to invoke local sentiment by referring to the valour of iconic women like Chakali Ailamma, who was instrumental in the fight against the Razakars and the Nizam, and Mallu Swarajyam in the erstwhile Nalgonda district.Revanth Reddy appealed to the women voters to facilitate a historic win for the Congress, maintaining that the verdict of Munugode would impact the future of entire Telangana in the days to come. He alleged that KCR had cheated the genuine agitators of the statehood movement besides the unemployed lot of the state with false promises. He also accused the BJP of trying to buy out power with currency wads brought from Gujarat. Time has arrived for the electorate of the constituency to teach a collective lesson to both KCR's TRS and the BJP, he said. He asked the womenfolk to ensure a grand victory to Congress party nominee Palvai Shravanti at the hustings.

Deafening silence prevails all across the constituency since 6 pm on Tuesday as the high-voltage campaigning came to a tiring finish.