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Kishan Reddy after taking over as president of the Telangana unit of the BJP. (Twitter)
The coronation of Union Minister for Northeastern States G Kishan Reddy as the new chief of the Telangana unit of the BJP was an event with just the right amount of pomp and show, but it failed to mask the fact that tensions still simmer in the party, with prominent leaders at odds with each other.
At a meeting organised after Kishan Reddy took over, former president Bandi Sanjay Kumar could not resist doling out some unsolicited advice to senior party leaders.
His message, clearly directed at BJP MLA and Election Management Committee chiarman Eatala Rajender — the man instrumental for his ouster — was this: Don’t keep complaining to the central leadership of the party and let the new president work peacefully and focus on the year-end Assembly elections.
The event also saw actress and senior BJP leader Vijayashanti expressing open displeasure over the presence of former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, a recent entrant from the Congress.
Even before the event ended, Vijayashanti left the party office after extending congratulations to Kishan Reddy.
In a tweet, she expressed her ire over the invitation extended to Kiran Kumar Reddy, who had resigned in protest against granting separate statehood to Telangana.
“I felt inconvenience with the presence of Kiran Kumar Reddy who tried to foil the movement for separate Telangana with iron hand when he was the chief minister in united Andhra Pradesh and left the office after greeting Kishan Reddy,” she said.
Meanwhile, in a development that could spell discontent in the future, Eatala Rajender met with party leader Vikram Goud, the son of former MLA Mukesh Goud, and discussed the affairs in the Goshamahal constituency.
Goshamahal in Hyderabad is the lone seat won by the BJP in the 2018 Assembly election, and credit for that goes to sitting MLA T Raja Singh who was, however, suspended from the party last year for making comments about the Prophet.
Raja Singh remains suspended despite several BJP leaders, including Vijayashanti, interceding on his behalf. But denying him a ticket from Goshamahal and handing over the constituency to Vikram Goud could spell trouble at a time there have been rumours that he is in conversation with the BRS.
Eatala too had met Raja Singh amidst talk that he was in a mood to move on from the BJP, though the suspended leader himself has vehemently denied any such intention.
