The Congress party’s office in Telangana’s Munugode constituency was vandalised and set on fire late on Monday, October 10, in the run-up to the bye-elections scheduled to take place there. The vandalism came to light on Tuesday morning after party workers shared visuals of the same on social media. Videos that were shared by the Telangana Congress wing show parts of the office burnt down, along with several files and the Congress flag.
Telangana Congress chief Revanth Reddy, who is campaigning at the Chandur mandal, has condemned the act strongly and said that this was done to deter the spirit of Congressmen. He also demanded action against those involved, and added that local Congress leaders would file a police complaint in this regard. Meanwhile, the Telangana Congress unit has accused the BJP and TRS for the vandalism, claiming it was done as the parties “fear failure” in the upcoming bye-elections.
Munugode has turned into a hotbed of political activity, as the TRS, BJP and Congress candidates have filed their nominations for the bye-polls, scheduled to be held on November 3. The Congress has fielded Palvai Sravanti, while Kusukuntla Prabhakar Reddy is the TRS candidate. The BJP has fielded former Congress leader and MLA Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy.
On Monday, after BJP MLA Komatireddy filed his nomination, several posters that said ‘ContractPe’, with logos resembling UPI payment portal PhonePe, with Rajagopal’s face were seen in Chandur. The posters had the text “Rs 18,000 crore has been transferred to contractor Komatireddy”, referring to allegations of the MLA switching to the BJP from the Congress after receiving kickbacks worth Rs 18,000 crore from the Union government.
The Munugode bye-poll was necessitated after sitting MLA Rajagopal Reddy resigned from the Assembly and the Congress party to join the BJP. He joined the BJP at a public meeting in Munugode on August 21, which was addressed by Union Home Minister Amit Shah. The constituency is set to see a three-cornered contest among ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and opposition BJP and Congress.
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