Raj Gopal Reddy Resignation: A psychological war between BJP and TRS

Hyderabad: Munugode Assembly Constituency is going to be a psychological war between the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi and Bharatiya Janta Party in Telangana. The resignation of Komatireddy Raj Gopal Reddy from the Congress party will impact the politics of the state. Reddy is from the constituency which is a stronghold of the Congress Party.

In the 2018 Assembly elections, Congress Party got 48.9 percent votes, TRS 37.56 percent and BJP 6.4 percent. Senior leaders of the Congress Party in Telangana are already looking into the strength of the party in the area which has been their bastion for a long time.

Krishna Rao, a political analyst says, "Munugode constituency is not like Dubbak or Huzurabad. People of the area have voted for Congress and the CPI. The presence of TRS is only very recent. BJP has a very less vote share. In which way Raj Gopal Reddy will woo voters will have to be seen." In political circles, the debate is that the turnaround two years before the general elections is to send a message to the TRS government.

The strategy of the BJP is to keep TRS on its toes and also drain it out of its resources. According to sources, a by-election at this juncture before the general elections can be very costly for the ruling party in the state. "Everyone has got into an election mood," says C R Gowri Shanker, a political analyst. On one side, there are reports being generated on the performance of TRS MLA's which has created a lot of uncertainty. These survey's and reports are creating a lot of distress among the elected representatives. "There are many of them who are not happy with these developments, " say TRS insiders.

On the other hand, rumblings in the Congress Party are visible as their richest MLA has left a loyal bastion. The party is now in firefighting mode as it is assessing it's loyalists.

A senior Congress leader explains, "It will be a costly by-election for Raj Gopal Reddy. Why is he indulging in it now? What has made him switch sides? There are pressure tactics across the country and the same is being used here too." Political insiders state that this turbulence is being created to drive the message that BJP can win Telangana. "It's a psychological war where people will believe that the party has arrived. This will make it easy for them in the general elections. To swing the voters which were long-time Congress loyalists will mean that they can gain entries in the other parts of the state too."