Munugode bypoll: Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy only a pawn in BJP’s game

Hyderabad: Former Congress MLA Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy, who lost the Munugode bypoll, turned out to be a pawn in the political game played by the BJP to push the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi into a corner in Telangana. In what was supposed to be a master ploy to check the increasing influence of the TRS, […]

Hyderabad: Former Congress MLA Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy, who lost the Munugode bypoll, turned out to be a pawn in the political game played by the BJP to push the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi into a corner in Telangana.

In what was supposed to be a master ploy to check the increasing influence of the TRS, the BJP machinations backfired with people preferring the TRS and rejecting the BJP turncoat Rajgopal Reddy. The overall strategy of the BJP think tank was that if Rajgopal Reddy won the election, it could have claimed people’s support for BJP while rejecting the TRS.

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If the bypoll was lost, the BJP strategised that the loss could also be portrayed as a moral victory as the BJP would, either way, stand second at the hustings leaving the Congress in the third position. The other ploy was to encourage defections by inducements to paint a picture as if the defections were being approved by the people’s mandate. A win in Munugode with the buying of MLAs, the BJP’s grandiose plan was to topple the TRS government by projecting as if more people were ready to leave the TRS.

According to information the Special Investigation Team has gathered from the accused, Rajgopal Reddy was ready to join the BJP but was adamant about not resigning from the Assembly. Rajgopal Reddy’s argument was that he would join the BJP without quitting the Assembly and even if his defection was questioned, he could approach the Court and delay the matter till the Assembly elections, which are due next year.

But the BJP leadership insisted on the resignation and assured him of monetary support, and Reddy was confident of winning the elections by splurging hundreds of crores. In turn, all he wanted was unconditional support from the party’s high command in New Delhi. However, the TRS campaign pinning on the State government’s welfare and development programmes and the people’s unconditional support for Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao dashed his hopes of victory.

In short, Rajgopal Reddy ended up being a small pawn in the big plan.

Apart from Telangana, the BJP was targeting YS Jaganmohan Reddy’s government in Andhra Pradesh too. The plan was to maintain friendly overtures with Jagan even while stepping up efforts to ‘convince’ the MLAs to split from YSRCP and join the BJP. The plan in AP was to get closer to Jagan and slowly pull the rug from under his feet. The BJP is said to have contacted over 70 leaders in AP, including 55 from the ruling YSR Congress Party.

As it was revealed from the audio clips, the AAP government in Delhi too was on the radar. The BJP leaders claimed to have contacted 43 leaders in Delhi Government and 21 in Rajasthan also.