Parties swarm villages in Munugode Assembly constituency in Telangana, power of money on display

No debate on development issues as politics takes centre stage

Irrespective of who’s going to win the ballot-battle for Munugode Assembly seat, taken as a matter of prestige by three major political parties — Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and the Congress — the ‘real’ winner this time is likely to be the power and influence of money.

The otherwise sleepy villages of Munugode constituency going for byelection on November 3 are abuzz with unprecedented political activity ever since the Election Commission announced the bypoll on October 3 with all and sundry of the three major political parties swarming the narrow bylanes to win over the electorate.

“Never in our lifetime we have witnessed politicians making a beeline to our villages day-in and day-out and trying to influence us this way,” a middle-aged shepherd at Kankanalagudem said when asked about the goings-on.

The ruling TRS has literally deputed all of its machinery to Munugode with ministers, legislators and MPs given specific tasks of touching every section of the electorate and BJP trying to match TRS by descending as many leaders as possible, including the lone Union Minister representing the State. On the other hand, the Congress campaign managers are sandwiched between taking care of the Rahul Gandhi’s padayatra and the election campaign.

Ever since the issue of alleged poaching of TRS MLAs has come out in open on Wednesday last, it’s seen overshadowing the issues of development raised now and then in the campaigning by parties. Earlier too, the campaign revolved around why the byelection is necessitated rather than the interests of the Munugode electorate.

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s public meeting near Chandur with pointed accusation at the BJP leadership on alleged poaching of TRS MLAs has enthused the party cadres, who feel it will benefit the party’s prospects.

One common feature visible in most of the 115-odd villages during a visit to the constituency a couple of days back was police check-posts and tents erected mostly by TRS and BJP to serve lunch and dinner not only to their cadres canvassing for the party candidate but also to others whoever want to have food. Small grocery shops and food points have roaring business over the last three weeks with both the visitors and villagers being the patrons on a large-scale.