Among the eight MLAs that the BJP has, Alleti Maheswar Reddy and Katipally Venkata Ramana Reddy appear to be closely behind Raja Singh.
(Clockwise from top left) The BJP's winners: A Maheshwar Reddy from Nirmal, T Raja Singh from Goshamahal, Dhanpal Suryanarayana from Nizamabad Urban, K Venkataramana Reddy from Kamareddy, P Harish Babu from Sirpur, Rama Rao Pawar from Mudhole, P Rakesh Reddy from Armur, and Payal Shankar from Adilabad. (MenonArvindBJP/X)
The BJP is on the horns of a dilemma over picking the leader of its Legislature Party in Telangana.
Among its eight legislators, T Raja Singh (Goshamahal) is the frontrunner, with senior leaders Eatala Rajender and M Raghunandan Rao as well as MPs Dharmapuri Arvind, Soayam Bapu Rao and Bandi Sanjay Kumar biting the dust in the recent Assembly elections.
Among the eight MLAs that the BJP has, Alleti Maheswar Reddy and Katipally Venkata Ramana Reddy appear to be closely behind Raja Singh.
Two-time MLA Maheshwar Reddy, who felled former minister A Indrakaran Reddy in Nirmal by a huge majority, and Venkata Ramana Reddy, who proved to be a giant-killer by taking down the then TPCC president and now chief minister A Revanth Reddy and former chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao in Kamareddy, are the other choices before the party.
The BJP is in an otherwise upbeat mood after winning three states in the North with the Hindutva slogan.
It may want to use the same strategy with redoubled vigour to improve on its 2019 score in four Lok Sabha seats in Telangana — Adilabad, Nizamabad, Karimnagar, and Secunderabad — from where Soyam Bapu Rao, D Arvind, B Sanjay Kumar, and G Kishan Reddy won the polls respectively.
As Hindutva is going to be the BJP’s main weapon, there is a move to reappoint Bandi Sanjay Kumar as the Telangana unit president to rekindle the Hindutva passion and help the party improve its tally of Lok Sabha seats.
In such a case, the automatic choice for the Legislature Party leadership would be Raja Singh.
But the problem with Raja Singh is he arrives with an overload of Hindutva — to the extent that it might embarrass the party as it had led to his suspension in the past. Yet, ignoring him is also very risky, as his supporters are also die-hard Hindutva activists.
Though he has the problem of not being able to communicate well in Telugu, he can ensure that his audience gets the drift. It is a catch-20 situation for the party.
When it comes to Venkata Ramana Reddy, the only significant factor in his favour is that he fought and demolished doughty leaders like K Chandrasekhar Rao and Revanth Reddy in Kamareddy.
Alleti Maheshwar Reddy, a two-time MLA, is also a giant-killer of sorts: He vanquished former environment and forest minister A Indrakaran Reddy by over 50,000 votes in Nirmal. Given his experience as a legislator, he might also be considered.
Another reason he may be considered is to discourage him from entertaining any idea of switching loyalty in the future. He is originally from the Congress.
“Our party is yet to take a call on the leadership issue. Now we have eight MLAs. We have to take their opinion before deciding on who should be the leader,” party spokesperson NV Subhash told South First.
“Also, the party’s state president and Union minister G Kishan Reddy is in Delhi for Parliament session,” he said.
But the BJP cannot wait forever: It will have to decide on a Telangana Legislature Party leader after the conclusion of the Parliament session on 22 December.
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