Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who landed in Hyderabad on Sunday, is set to address a public meeting in Munugode, about 85km from Hyderabad, in the evening. Munugode is set to go for a bypoll following the resignation of Congress legislator K. Rajagopal Reddy.
Reddy will be joining BJP in the presence of Shah, sources in the saffron party said, adding that he would be contesting as its candidate. Both Congress and TRS are yet to decide their candidates.
Significance of Munugode bypoll
Political temperature has risen in Telangana as the outcome of the upcoming bypoll to Munugode assembly segment is expected to give a perceptual edge to the winner ahead of next year's assembly elections.
Congress will fight tooth and nail to retain the seat, while the BJP wants to prove that it is the "alternative" to the ruling TRS by clinching the segment.
The TRS is pooling all resources to win the Munugode seat to prove a point that people of the state are with the ruling party.
The BJP in Telangana is already on a high after winning two Assembly bypolls and putting up a decent performance in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) elections during the last two years.
While the saffron party banks on anti-establishment votes and alleged "family rule" of Rao, the TRS is confident of winning the seat by showcasing the welfare and developmental schemes that the state government has been undertaking for the past eight years.
The TDP-BJP affair
Shah is also scheduled to meet popular actor Jr NTR and visit the Ramoji Film City. Though the agenda is not known, the Union home minister's meeting with the 'RRR' actor, who is former chief minister N.T. Rama Rao's grandson – founder of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) – and a probable visit to RFC, have set the political tongues wagging.
In the 2009 Andhra Pradesh assembly elections before the state bifurcation, Jr NTR campaigned for the TDP. Later, he distanced himself from politics to focus on his film career.
Film producer and media baron Ramoji Rao's invite is, reportedly, to broker a deal between TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu and Shah for the party's return to the NDA.
The TDP and BJP, with actor-turned-politician Pawan Kalyan's support, fought together and won in the 2014 assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh; however, the parties snapped ties in 2018, a year before the previous assembly polls, over the BJP-led Union government denying Special Category Status to AP.
However, Chandrababu Naidu-led TDP has indicated that it is open to reviving its ties with the BJP. His remarks on the possibility of allying with Kalyan's Jana Sena Party and TDP's support to BJP’s presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu have show that Naidu is desperate to unseat Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy-led YSRCP.
Will BJP take the bait?
Kalyan has declared that his party JSP has three options – fight the polls with BJP, ally with BJP and TDP, or go it alone.
But the BJP has made it clear on several occasions earlier that it does not intend to ally with the TDP. The latter is batting for political relevance, and the BJP knows it.
The saffron party is working with JSP alone, and is looking to emerge as a strong alternative with Kalyan's support.
Also, with YSRCP supporting the NDA on several national issues, the BJP will be wary of antagonising the party by allying with the TDP.
TRS attacks the BJP
On Saturday, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao tore into the BJP in a meeting.
Rao, in his address, challenged Shah to answer as to why the Centre has not yet decided the Krishna river water sharing formula for the state. He alleged that the Centre has not decided on the share of river water even after eight years since Telangana's formation.
TRS Working President and Minister K.T. Rama Rao, too, took a dig at Shah, tweeting that the father of an "ace cricketer" is visiting Telangana.
Rama Rao further said the visiting dignitary will also "campaign for a gentleman whose brother is an MP", indirectly referring to Reddy.
"The father of an Ace cricketer who rose through the ranks & became BCCI Secretary (purely on merit) is visiting Telangana today. He will campaign for a gentleman whose brother is an MP & whose wife was an MLC contestant And he will lecture & enlighten us on Parivarvad," Rama Rao tweeted.
In a separate tweet, Rama Rao said the people of Telangana are keen to hear from Amit Shah as to why the Gujarat government decided to release the convicts in the Bilkis Bano case.
