HYDERABAD: It will be a race to the finish, but of a different kind, for the BJP for its August 21 public meeting in Munugode where Union home minister Amit Shah will lead the charge against the TRS for the Munugode bypoll. With Chief Minister and TRS president K. Chandrashekar Rao addressing a public meeting in the constituency, a day before, both sides are keen that their meetings should be larger, and more impressive than that of their rival.
While the TRS is learnt to be targeting at least a lakh people to be present to hear Chandrashekar Rao, the BJP, it is learnt, is determined to out-do the TRS meeting. The BJP sources said they were targeting to mobilise around two lakh people for the Amit Shah meeting where former Munugode MLA Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy was scheduled to join the party.
At a meeting with senior party leaders near Kishtagudem in Palakurthi constituency during the lunch break of his Praja Sangrama Yatra on Wednesday, state BJP president Bandi Sanjay Kumar called on party leaders and cadres to make the meeting a huge success. He told the party leaders that the Munugode bypoll “is the semi-final” before the next year’s Assembly elections in the state, and every party worker should work to make the public meeting a great success. “Do not take it easy with this public meeting, a lot rides on it for the party,” Sanjay said.
He said the Communist parties in the united Nalgonda district, of which Munugode constituency was a part of, were without followers. “Most Communist party leaders have sold themselves away to the ruling party. Meanwhile, the Congress is suffering from internal strife, and its situation can be imagined by the fact that a senior leader like Marri Shashidhar Reddy today severely criticised TPCC president A. Revanth Reddy,” Sanjay said.
He said the people were vexed with the TRS rule and were now with the BJP waiting for the time when they could vote out the ruling party. The meeting was attended by senior party leaders N. Indrasena Reddy, A.P. Jithender Reddy, G. Vivek Venkatswamy, Rajgopal Reddy, P. Sudhakar Reddy, Konda Vishweshwar Reddy, D. Pradeep Kumar, G. Premender Reddy, and Dr Sravan Dasoju among others.
