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A few months ago, the BJP was looking to steam ahead in Telangana and make a splash in the Assembly elections scheduled for later this year. But following the loss in neighbouring Karnataka in last month’s state elections, the party seems to have lost momentum in Telangana too.
At the centre of the party’s troubles is the unhappiness of senior leaders Etela Rajender and Komatireddy Raj Gopal Reddy, both of whom want additional responsibilities in the organisation and want current state unit president Bandi Sanjay Kumar out. Rajender, who joined the BJP from the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) in 2021, wants to be projected as the “shadow CM”. Leaders such as Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP national president J P Nadda, and the BJP national general secretary in charge of Telangana, Tarun Chugh, are in touch with Rajender and Reddy to sort out the problems and project a united front against the BRS.
“We were on cloud nine till the Karnataka Assembly results were declared. After that, the cloud burst and we are looking at internal squabbles and ego problems in Telangana. Suddenly, the momentum we created to dislodge the BRS has lost steam. Although on the ground there is no erosion in our support base, the morale is a bit down,” said a state BJP leader.
State BJP leaders said Rajender and Reddy were against the strategy of not projecting a CM candidate ahead of an election in which it is looking to win power in Telangana for the first time. “Seeking important posts and additional responsibilities and demanding that they be projected as the CM candidate, or dictating the choice of the state party president, will not be tolerated in the party. There are senior leaders such as G Kishan Reddy and K Laxman who have spent decades in the party and still do not make such demands,” the BJP leader said, adding that Shah and Nadda tried to defuse the situation by meeting Rajender and Raj Gopal Reddy in New Delhi on Saturday.
The BJP central leadership is said to be unhappy with the two after the state unit failed to bring in former Khammam MP Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy and former state minister Jupally Krishna Rao. Srinivasa Reddy and Rao were among at least 33 BRS leaders who joined the Congress at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters in New Delhi on Monday in the presence of party leader Rahul Gandhi and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge.
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