Hyderabad: In a message to the BJP government, posters aggrandizing KCR were put in the Munugode constituency on Friday. ‘Unbreakable Telangana & KCR’, said the hoardings. Telangana chief minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao (KCR) will be addressing a public meeting in the seat.
The public meeting by KCR is pretty much in anticipation of the Munugode by-poll, as the Assembly seat is now vacant. Ex-MLA Congress MLA Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy resigned from the party and joined the BJP few weeks ago. His departure has necessitated the by-election. The TRS is pulling out all stops to win the seat before the state goes to polls next year.
On Friday, the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) got into action for KCR’s public meeting in Munugode. The posters on bulldozers åre part of the TRS’s larger gameplan to take on the BJP nationally and in Telangana as well. In fact, the TRS has been targeting the BJP, especially at the Centre, relentlessly over the past few months.
In Uttar Pradesh, chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s government has been demolishing homes of activists and dissenters for raising their voices. In Delhi, the BJP-run municipality also bulldozed homes in Jahangirpuri citing illegal constructions earlier this year. It was done after clashes took place in April in the area after a Hanuman jayanthi procession turned provocative and violent.
The TRS also carried out a similar social media campaign during the BJP’s national executive meeting in Hyderabad recently. The ruling party put up ‘money heist’ hoardings, targeting PM Narendra Modi. The TRS also put up party flags all across Hyderabad. The party and KCR managed to steal the thunder on the day Modi and landed in town for a public meeting.
The TRS in recent times has also stepped up its attacks on the BJP-led central government. A sign that KCR is very much looking at a larger national role as an opposition leader. The chief minister has always been looked at as an unlikely ally of the opposition, but has been veering more towards that side off late.
After losing two by-polls to the BJP – Dubbaka and Huzurabad – the TRS and KCR will also be looking to win the Munugode by-election. Winning it will also show which way the wind is blowing in Telangana. As the Munugode has been a traditional Congress seat, it is likely to be a three-way fight.
