Munugode bypoll battle heats up as BRS eyes national arena; KCR government withdraws general consent to CBI

Taking the high-stakes battle for the Munugode by-election in Telangana a step forward, the Telangana Rashtra Samiti - now in its new avatar as Bharat Rashtra Samiti - has upped the ante against the BJP with a clear aim of going national, eyeing the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

As the BJP has accelerated its campaign for the bypoll, the BRS has deployed 14 state ministers and at least 50-60 MLAs to cover every inch of Munugode in Nalgonda district. The leaders of K Chandrashekar Rao’s party are highlighting and amplifying the state’s “national role model” schemes like Rythu Bandhu, Dalit Bandhu, free power to the farm sector, farm insurance and myraid other schemes, reported The Indian Express.

The BRS leaders are not only highlighting the development work and schemes implemented by the government, but also telling voters that the BJP candidaste Komatireddy Raj Gopal Reddy, who was elected on a Congress ticket in December 2018 but resigned from it on August 2 to join the BJP, is a businessman with little interest in their welfare, the report added.

The BRS has also accused Reddy of joining the BJP after receiving civil works contracts from the Centre worth Rs 18,000 crore. On the other hand, Raj Gopal’s supporters claim he won in 2018 due to his hard work and charisma.

Days after accusing the BJP of a failed poaching bid, the KCR government on Saturday informed the Telangana High Court that it has withdrawn the general consent given to the CBI to probe cases in the state.

This comes days after the BJP's state general secretary, Gujjula Premendar Reddy, moved the Telangana High Court seeking a CBI probe into the allegations that some men, linked to his party, tried to poach MLAs of TRS.

Three men were detained earlier this week from a farmhouse near Hyderabad in the act of bribing four MLAs of TRS to switch to the BJP, the police had said.

On Friday, the 'TRS MLAs poaching case' in Telangana snowballed with the BJP approaching the Enforcement Directorate and the Election Commission seeking a probe, while TV channels aired alleged telephonic conversation between the complainant and the accused.

BJP MLA M Raghunandan Rao submitted a representation to the Enforcement Directorate here to investigate into the matter. The BJP has already announced that it would move the court seeking a high-level investigation into the issue to bring out the truth over the ruling TRS' allegations that the BJP tried to poach some of its MLAs.