Postponement of Rajagopal Reddy’s meeting creates confusion in political circles

Nagonda: A crucial meeting with the Congress party workers in Munugode constituency called by the sitting MLA Komtireddy Rajagopal Reddy at Chandur on Friday got postponed triggering animated discussions in the political circles here. The proposed meeting assumed significance in the backdrop of reports that Rajagopal Reddy is ready to jump ship and join the […]

Nagonda: A crucial meeting with the Congress party workers in Munugode constituency called by the sitting MLA Komtireddy Rajagopal Reddy at Chandur on Friday got postponed triggering animated discussions in the political circles here. The proposed meeting assumed significance in the backdrop of reports that Rajagopal Reddy is ready to jump ship and join the BJP after quitting the Telangana Legislative Assembly also.

Rajagopal Reddy is stated to have planned to meet his followers to declare his decision in the name of collecting their opinions, as he was already in touch with the BJP central leadership, which was stated to have assured its ‘full cooperation’ in getting him reelected to the assembly in the bypoll. For the BJP, it would serve the twin purposes of engaging the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) in the assembly bypoll, while deflecting the TRS supremo’s K Chandrashekhar Rao’s attention from the national politics.

---

In this background, Rajagopal Reddy is believed to have planned his followers meeting, but cancelled it in the last moment claiming that he was suffering from fever. Reddy has been wavering in his stand about leaving the Congress and joining the BJP. At least on two or three occasions earlier, he had made his stand known that he would leave the Congress, but this time, he seemed to have decided to join the BJP after he had a secret meeting with union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi along with an MP in Jharkhand.

Incidentally, Rajagopal Reddy’s company handles major contract works in Jharkhand and also in North Eastern States.

In the last elections in 2018 Rajagopal Reddy defeated the TRS candidate Kusukuntla Parabhakar Reddy with a majority of more than 20,000 votes. The BJP ‘s candidate Gongidi Manohar Reddy got just 12,724 votes in the elections. Moreover, left parties particularly CPI had a strong to some parts in the assembly constituency. CPI candidates own from the assembly constituency in five legislative assembly elections so far.

Sources say that Reddy is facing opposition from his own party members with the TPCC president A Revanth Reddy encouraging some leaders against him. Congress leaders Punna Kailash Netha and Palvai Rajani have intensified their activities posing as “Revanth Reddy group”.