Eye on Winning Horses, Fresh start of Operation Lotus after Sankranthi

Seemed to be learned new lessons from the debacle at Munugode by-poll, the BJP has chalked out a plan to bring leaders of MLA candidate status, from major political parties like the ruling TRS and the Congress party, to its fold in Telangana. By doing so, the saffron party wanted to project itself as an alternate to the pink party in the state.

According to the sources, the BJP state leaders as well as party bigwigs at Delhi put lot of hope in winning Munugode seat. They are of the view that winning bastion of Communists and Congress party may add strength to the party where it adds one more MLA seat to its kitty apart from Dubbak and Huzurabad seats and made a hat-trick in a series of by-polls. But their hopes are shattered with the outcome of Munugode by-election.

With this, it is learnt that the party high command has instructed state leaders to give a break to the Operation Lotus (A mission to bring prominent leaders and MLAs from other parties to its fold) and start afresh after three-day-Sankranthi festival next year.

The sources said that the saffron party somehow happy with the result of the Munugode where it brought Komatireddy brothers (Congress MP from Bhongir Komatireddy Venkata Reddy and party Munugode candidate Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy), belonged to the family of staunch Congress supports for decades, to its fold. The saffron party leaders are of sure that the Bhongir MP may join their bandwagon in near future, where the Congress party issued show-cause notice to him on his direct appeal to the party cadre to vote for the BJP candidate and his brother Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy in the recent Munogode by-poll, though he categorically said that he will be forever with the grand old party.

Based on the experience it gained from the recent by-elections, the BJP bigwigs instructed the party state leaders to focus on winning horses in other parties across the 119 Assembly segments in Telangana for the ensuing elections and bring them to the party fold at any cost. They also cautioned the leaders not to waste their time and strength in bringing second rung leaders from the other parties to the saffron bandwagon.