Munugode debacle leaves Congress with many questions to answer 

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While the party did not expect to win, but losing its deposit has become an embarrassment

While the party did not expect to win, but losing its deposit has become an embarrassment

Disappointment and disillusionment has engulfed the Congress party after the Munugode bypoll results where it failed to even retain its deposit.

Though it never expected to win the seat given the large-scale defection of its local leadership to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) along with Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy, the least it was expecting was to leave some impression on the result landscape.

Congress candidate Palvai Sravanthi could not even secure the votes she had secured as an independent candidate in 2014 against TRS candidate Kusukuntla Prabhakar Reddy. In 2014 the seat was allotted to the Communist Party of India (CPI) as a part of the alliance. 

The disappointing result coming when Rahul Gandhi’s padayatra is passing through Telangana is an embarrassment to the party though it never had hopes to put up a competition in the political circumstances built up over Munugode bypoll.

The party can, however, take some solace from the fact that it had secured some respectable votes compared to the previous byelection in Huzurabad where it secured less than 4,000 votes.

The election itself was designed to undermine the Congress deliberately by the BJP and the TRS has been the party’s argument. Mr. Rajgopal Reddy taking away the entire village and mandal level leadership with him has hurt the Congress badly.

“Whatever the BJP polled in these elections are Congress votes actually. This time they had sympathy for Mr. Rajgopal Reddy and have voted for him more than the BJP,” a senior leader argued wishing anonymity.

Congress was also no match in the money politics unleashed on the constituency by the TRS and the BJP. Ms. Palvai Sravanthi depended on her father Palvai Goverdhan Reddy’s legacy. In the high decibel campaigning where even voters allied with those distributing money and liquor rather than political affiliations there was hardly any chance for her. Even the women sentiment that the party tried to evoke didn’t have any takers.

TPCC president A Revanth Reddy put up best of his efforts but the ground situation was not conducive for igniting the cadre. Media’s agenda setting of a TRS-BJP fight right from the beginning also didn’t help the Congress much.

The absence of Bhongir MP Komatireddy Venkata Reddy from the campaign and his alleged support to his brother and BJP candidate Rajgopal Reddy seems to have impacted the party candidate little bit given their strength in the constituency. Mr Venkata Reddy is the sitting MP there.



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