Despite conceding defeat to the Telangana Rashtra Samithi in Munugode with a margin of just over 10,000 votes in the just concluded by-elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party is more than happy.
The party leaders are jubilant that the BJP has made huge gains in the by-election.
In 2018 December general election to the state assembly, BJP candidate Gangidi Manohar Reddy got only 12,725 votes (8% vote share), but this time, the BJP’s vote share has gone up by nearly seven times to 86,697 votes, accounting for 38.49% - a massive jump of nearly 30.50% votes.
Though this huge increase in the vote share for the BJP can be primarily attributed to the personal image and popularity of former MLA Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy from the Congress, it is still a big gain for the BJP, considering the fact that the party has little presence in Nalgonda, where it was virtually non-existent.
The BJP had lost its deposits in almost all the constituencies in Nalgonda in the past – both in general elections and the by-elections to Huzurnagar and Nagarjunasagar, securing less than 2 per cent of votes.
The fact that the BJP could secure 38.5 percent votes in Munugode, which was once dominated by the Congress and the Communists and later by the TRS, shows that the saffron party has grown in the district.
This has given rise to the impression that the BJP has grown to the No. 2 position in the Telangana. The Congress, which lost not only its sitting seat but also its deposit in the by-election, clearly slipped to the third position.
“The outcome of the by-poll in Munugode also projected the BJP as the only alternative to the TRS in the next assembly elections. Now, the people will see the BJP as the next best alternative and not the TRS,” an analyst said.
