Telangana is likely to witness another crucial bypoll ahead of the 2023 Legislative Assembly elections with Congress legislator from Munugode constituency, Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy announcing his resignation from the party and as MLA.
Rajagopal Reddy on Tuesday evening said he would seek time from the Legislative Assembly Speaker to submit his resignation.
A by-election to the Munugode segment is inevitable as the Legislative Assembly elections are more than a year away, towards the end of 2023.
The bypoll should be held within six months after a seat is declared vacant.
The process of the by-election is expected to commence depending on how soon the Speaker accepts the resignation of Rajagopal Reddy.
The by-election would assume significance as it would give momentum, ahead of the Assembly polls, to the party that wins.
The three principal political players in the state -- ruling TRS, BJP, and Congress -- would vie to win the Munugode seat in view of its massive importance.
TRS would be keen to win the by-poll as a loss would give ammunition to the opposition to target the ruling party.
Speculation is rife that Rajagopal Reddy would join the BJP. Though he has not yet announced his decision officially, he has repeatedly maintained that only BJP, under the leadership of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah, can put an end to the family rule of TRS.
The BJP is expected to make all-out effort to wrest Munugode and give a fillip to its campaign for the Assembly polls.
The saffron party has been making a determined bid to emerge as an alternative to TRS in the state. Its prospects were bolstered by the victories in Huzurabad and Dubbak assembly bypolls and also the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation elections during the last couple of years.
The Congress, meanwhile, would face a litmus test to retain Munugode as Rajagopal Reddy is an influential leader who had served as MP and MLC earlier.
His elder brother Venkata Reddy is a sitting Congress Lok Sabha member.
Not to be left behind, the Congress announced, soon after Rajagopal Reddy announced his resignation, the constitution of a Strategy and Campaign Committee for the Munugode Assembly constituency under the leadership of former MP Madhu Yashki Goud.
State Congress president and MP A Revanth Reddy said a meeting would be organized on August 5 at Munugode to gear up the party for the by-election.
All senior Congress functionaries in Telangana would attend the meeting, he had announced.
(Inputs from PTI)
