Rs 18K crore contract takes centre stage in T'gana's Munugode bypoll

Hyderabad, Oct 11:  The Rs 18,000 crore contract received by the company of Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy appears to have taken the centre stage of the election campaign in Munugode Assembly constituency in Telangana.

Both the ruling Rashtra Samithi Samithi (TRS) and opposition Congress are trying to derive political mileage by slamming Rajagopal Reddy for selling himself to the BJP for the contract.

Rajagopal Reddy, who resigned from the Congress recently, is contesting the November 3 by-election as a BJP candidate.

In an interview to a Telugu channel, Rajagopal Reddy admitted that his infrastructure firm bagged Rs 18,000 contract in competition.

Both TRS and Congress have been slamming him for imposing a by-election on Munugode for the sake of the contract.

The ruling party has even offered to withdraw from the contest if the Centre provides Rs 18,000 crore for the development of the constituency and Nalgonda district.

TRS working president K.T. Rama Rao said on Tuesday that the TRS will withdraw its candidate if the BJP government at the Centre comes forward to provide the amount equal to the contract given to Rajagopal Reddy for the development of Munugode.

KTR said as working president of the party he is committed to the word given by energy minister Jagadish Reddy that TRS will withdraw its candidate if the Centre gives Rs 18,000 crore for the development of Nalgonda.

He said by buying a contractor, the BJP was hoping to buy the people of Munugode as a commodity. He reiterated the allegation that Rajagopal Reddy has promised to the BJP leadership that he will spend Rs 500 crore in the by-election.

"This by-election is a fight between Narendra Modi's arrogance and the self-respect of the people of Munugode," he said.

Meanwhile, wall posters have come up in the constituency, highlighting how Rajagopal Reddy switched loyalties to the BJP after bagging Rs 18,000 crore contract.

The posters have come up in the format of a digital payment app. Using a fictitious name ContractPe, it declares that Rs 18,000 crore contract awarded to Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy. The poster mentions Transaction ID as 'BJP18thousandcrores'.

A video of the fictitious digital transaction of Rs 18,000 crore from the BJP to Rajagopal Reddy was also uploaded from the official Twitter handle of Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee.

The TRS has already urged the Election Commission of India to disqualify Rajagopal Reddy from the by-election as he was awarded the massive contract to lure him to switch loyalties.

TRS leader and finance minister Harish Rao had claimed that the BJP has booked 200 Brezza cars and hundreds of motorcycles to buy leaders from other parties in the constituency.

On October 8, Rajagaopal Reddy had threatened to file a defamation suit against KTR for making the allegation. The BJP leader said he is giving 24 hours time to prove his allegation.

Rajagopal Reddy was reacting to an earlier tweet by KTR. "Quid pro quo - open confession of the BJP MLA candidate from Munugode. His company gets a massive Rs. 18,000 crore contract from and in return he joins BJP," wrote KTR

KTR posted a clip of a video clip from a debate on a Telugu television channel. During the debate, Rajagopal Reddy revealed that the company received a contract worth Rs 18,000 crore in competition about six months ago while he has been talking of joining BJP for the last three years.