Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao's early 'Left turn' tipped the scales in favour of TRS, helped skirt a photo finish

HYDERABAD: In the hotly contested bypoll, TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao's deft move to go for a pre-poll tie-up with CPI and CPM has proven to be the determining factor in ensuring K Prabhakar Reddy's win.
Not only has the alliance helped TRS upset the apple cart of BJP, but also benefited Prabhakar Reddy regain the lost ground in later rounds of counting when the going was getting tough for TRS. Political analysts pointed out that the contest would have been nail-biting and victory margin wafer thin if not for left votes going in favour of TRS.
"CPI cadres worked in all seven mandals of constituency and almost 20,000 votes of CPI got polled in favour of the TRS in the bypoll," said CPI state secretary Kunamneni Sambasiva Rao.

On their part, CPI and CPM are happy that they have succeeded in their objective of stopping the BJP from winning the Munugode seat, which was a left bastion for a long time. The left parties had made it clear that they were extending support to the TRS with the sole objective of saving the Constitution and democracy by defeating BJP. They stuck to their guns that only the TRS had the potential to take on BJP and not Congress and they have been proved right.
While KCR and left leaders have made it clear that their friendly association would continue at national level to stitch up a political coalition against the BJP, CPM state secretary Tammineni Veerabhadram said it was crucial to send a clear message to the people that BJP can be stopped if a united and sincere effort is made.

"The left extending support to ruling TRS was a turning point in the bypoll. A clear message has gone to the people," Veerabhadram told TOI
Our party cadres distributed books having the quotes and ideology of RSS ideologues Veer Savarkar, KB Hedgewar and MS Golwalkar. A lot of effort has gone into convincing SCs, STs and OBCs on the real intentions of BJP and the dangers being faced by the country because of its divisive politics," CPM state secretary Tammineni Veerabhadram told TOI.

The TRS' win has reaffirmed that both CPI and CPM still enjoy a considerable support of the people in various parts of the state, especially Nalgonda district and Munugode segment.
"The CPI has won the Munugode seat for five terms in 1985, 1989, 1994, 2004 and 2009. In 2014, we lost because Palvai Sravanthi contested as a Congress rebel (independent) and CPM contested separately. In 2018, Congress candidate Raj Gopal won with the support of CPI. It was a Congress-CPI-TDP and TJS alliance," Sambasiva Rao said.