Congress braces for Munugodu bypoll

Hyderabad: The Telangana Congress has geared up for by-election to Munugodu Assembly constituency. A high-level Congress meeting, attended by all important leaders, was held here on Thursday to chalk out an action plan to retain the seat. Senior party leader and MLA K Rajgopal Reddy had recently quit the party and also membership of the Assembly and declared intent to join BJP soon.

As a first step, the party decided to launch a 'padayatra' in Munugodu on August 13. It will cover all 175 villages in the constituency. Party leader and campaign committee chairman Madhu Yaski Goud said leaders will hold mandal-level meetings of the by- poll bound Munugodu from August 16. TPCC president A Revanth Reddy said the by-election "is very important for the party. He said the role played by the party affiliated organizations are crucial to the Congress victory in the by-elections. He urged chairpersons of affiliated organisations to work hard not only for upcoming by-election, but also for the next year's Assembly polls. Revanth called upon party activists to work hard at ground level to ensure its victory and retain the Munugodu seat. Yashki alleged that TRS and BJP had necessitated the by-election as part of a conspiracy to weaken the Congress . The two parties were trying to create an image in the State that the contest would be between the two parties in the by-poll.

He made it clear that the Congress was ready to counter the conspiracies of the two parties. It was considering the Munugodu by-election as a semi-final before the next Assembly polls. AICC Chief Sonia Gandhi, he said,was keenly observing the political developments in Telangana. The party would field a candidate after arriving consensus among all local senior leaders.