Published May 21, 2026 | 9:25 AM ⚊ Updated May 21, 2026 | 9:49 AM
Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay.
Synopsis: Even days after his son was arrested in a POCSO case, Union Minister of State Bandi Sanjay Kumar has been attempting to prove that both he and his son are innocent. While the BJP has been trying to distance itself from the issue, the minister’s visit to the party office in Telangana has brought it back into focus. With a series of developments unfolding, there is also a possibility that Prime Minister Narendra Modi may strip Bandi Sanjay of his ministerial position.
If any Indian politician wants a masterclass on political self-destruction during a crisis, they need only study the step-by-step template unwittingly provided by Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay Kumar — preferably to ensure they never repeat it.
Ever since his son was caught in a POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) case two weeks ago, Bandi Sanjay sat on a political stove and was burning himself, on a low burner, though. He appears to have been bored with the process and stepped up the flame.
On Wednesday, 20 May, the minister made an unsolicited and unwarranted visit to the BJP Telangana office in Hyderabad. In the process, he exposed himself, as MPs, MLAs and important party office-bearers stayed away, as if on cue from Delhi.
Two low-ranking functionaries flanked him as followers shouted slogans hailing him. No one understood why they were making a hero out of him.
It was no Bhagat Singh moment.
Also Read: Bandi Sanjay accuses BRS of ‘false campaign’ in son Bageerath’s POCSO case
Going by reports, the central party leadership was not pleased with the show. The visit did not have its sanction, and there was no need for it as the leadership was already grappling with the moral and political crisis created by his son’s arrest.
From early morning on Wednesday, aides of Bandi Sanjay sent out messages and made phone calls to important leaders that he would be visiting the party office between 11 am and 1 pm and would like their presence. Yet, most did not turn up.
While the general secretaries marked themselves absent, the state unit president N Ramchander Rao was in Delhi, reportedly to submit a note to the leadership regarding the episode involving Bandi Sanjay’s son. While the issue was unfolding, Rao had been trying to distance the party from it.
However, by visiting the party office and using it as a platform to speak on his son’s issue, Bandi Sanjay has effectively nullified the position taken by Rao.
A senior functionary who spoke to South First said the absence of office bearers at the time of Bandi Sanjay’s visit conveyed a message. “In the normal course, at least some office bearers would be present at the party office during those hours, as a routine. Even otherwise, they would have come after receiving news about Sanjay’s visit, if there had been no negative messaging from Delhi,” he said.
After his followers did the hero worship and videographers captured the moments, Bandi Sanjay came out with his own filmy dialogue:
“Have you ever seen a father handing over his son to the police in any case?” Sanjay asked reporters stationed at the party office.
By doing so, he gave scope to raise the opposite question. “Have we ever seen a Union Minister’s son being booked in a POCSO case? Have we seen such an accused escape from police for more than a week until the court shut the door by denying an anticipatory bail?” Inviting questions when silence would have been a better weapon.
The visit to the party office is being seen by many as the last of the gaffes committed by Bani Sanjay from the time the scandal surfaced. The series of statements he made – defending his son, threatening rivals, protecting his son from arrest as long as he could — has all provided enough fodder for investigating agencies, if only they want to go after him.
Tragic as it may appear, it is Bandi Sanjay and his friends in Congress and BJP who have been busy keeping the issue alive. The main Opposition BRS, which had aggressively attacked Sanjay in the initial days after the issue came to light, reportedly decided to step back once the accused was arrested. Party leaders felt they should not appear as indulging in a witch-hunt.
However, Sanjay’s friends were worried the issue would die down.
A BJP MLA, Rakesh Reddy, the lone one to defend Sanjay, described the entire issue as a family matter, and the crass comments he made in the process soon went viral.
Also Read: Telangana BJP MLA defends POCSO case accused Bandi Sai Bageerath
It did not stop there. Ironic as it may appear, it was a Congress MP, Mallu Ravi, who put up a spirited defence of Sanjay. “Did KCR (former chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao) or his son, KT Rama Rao, resign when KCR’s daughter Kavita was arrested in the Delhi liquor scam?” he asked, gloating in the belief that he turned the tables on BRS. It was clownish.
Neither KCR nor KTR were in power and holding positions when Kavita was arrested. They could not stop the arrest and were in no position to influence the investigation either. In the current case, however, the accused was sought to be protected, and the father is very much in a position to “influence” the investigation.
Politically looking at it, BJP state president N Ramchander Rao’s visit to Delhi happened a day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s scheduled meeting with the full Council of Ministers on Thursday. A meeting which Bandi Sanjay is also expected to attend, unless he is asked not to.
Modi’s meeting assumes significance amidst reports that the Prime Minister is preparing for a fairly big reshuffle of his ministry on completion of two years of the current term.
The revamp is expected to happen on three criteria. 1) Weeding out underperformers; 2) Dropping ministers whose Rajya Sabha term is coming to an end; and 3) Quietly showing the exit to those facing charges.
Accommodating new interests in Maharashtra and Bihar after the political churn in both states and making changes in regard to Uttar Pradesh, where elections are due next year, are also likely to weigh on the restructuring process.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil.)
