The political atmosphere in Telangana has suddenly heated up following the resignation of sitting Congress MLA Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy from his assembly seat from Munugode constituency in Nalgonda district.
Rajagopal Reddy, who is all set to defect to the Bharatiya Janata Party soon, will contest the by-elections again, while the Congress and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi are busy working out their strategies by finalising their candidates.
All the three parties are also lobbying with other smaller parties to mobilise their support, since even one per cent of the vote will make all the difference in the outcome of the by-election, as it is going to be a keenly fought battle.
Against this backdrop, an interesting talk is going on in the social media as to which way the Telugu Desam Party would go.
Though the TDP is a very insignificant player in Munugode, it still has some cadre in the constituency, apart from some vote bank among the Andhra settlers.
In the 2018 assembly elections, the TDP had supported the Congress as part of the grand alliance; so, the party cadres voted for Rajagopal Reddy.
Now that Rajagopal Reddy is contesting on behalf of the BJP in the by-elections, it will be interesting which way the TDP will tilt.
Though the TDP has virtually cut off its links with the Congress after 2019, the party is still hopeful to get the TDP support, because of the close connections between Pradesh Congress Committee president A Revanth Reddy and TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu.
However, in the recent past, there has been a talk that Naidu had come to an understanding with the BJP central leadership, according to which the TDP would support the BJP in Telangana, while the saffron party would indirectly back the TDP in Andhra Pradesh.
If this talk is correct, then the TDP will back Rajagopal Reddy again. In a tough triangular contest, even a little support from the TDP will make a big difference in the outcome of the elections.
So, it remains to be seen whether the TDP will indirectly support the BJP or oblige Revanth request.
