TRS emerged as the winner in the fiercely contested Munugode By-election. The By-election is largely touted as the Semifinal for the 2023 Assembly elections.
For around two months, TRS fielded all its resources in the constituency. Both TRS and BJP spent colossal amounts of money to lure the voters. But finally, the ruling party scraped through.
This By-election victory also has a warning to TRS. It is almost a redux of TDP’s victory in the Nandhyala By-election in 2017.
Munugode and Nandhyala are Opposition bastions but the Ruling Parties (TDP and TRS) won using their power.
The victory gave Chandrababu false confidence and became a reason for TDP’s defeat in 2019. TDP lost Nandhyala as well with a huge margin in 2019.
KCR should be wary of what has happened to his former Political Guru, Chandrababu Naidu.
Ruling parties will have a natural advantage over the Opposition in By-elections.
And it should be remembered that all the advantages in a by-election will disappear in a General election.
BJP is still a threat because the party has gained immensely from a totally zero position in the 2018 election.
Munugode is definitely a setback for BJP but it is not the end of the world.
