Published Jul 05, 2023 | 10:01 PM ⚊ Updated Jul 05, 2023 | 10:18 PM
The by-election for the Munugode Assembly seat was triggered by the resignation of Congress legislator Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy. (krgreddy/Facebook)
Amidst intense speculation that former MLA Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy would abandon the BJP and join the Congress in Telangana, the saffron party’s central leadership has inducted the dissident leader into its National Executive Committee.
BJP national general secretary and headquarter in-charge Arun Singh made the announcement in an official communique on Wednesday, 5 June.
The development comes close on the heels of a meeting between Rajagopal Reddy and former MP Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy on Tuesday, where Rajagopal reportedly discussed his return to Congress.
Srinivasa Reddy, who was until recently in the ruling BRS in Telangana, joined the Congress on 2 July.
The BJP, uncharacteristically, seems to be yielding to pressure from the dissidents. The party appears keen on preventing the leaders from slipping away from its fold and joining the Congress, its rival, or the BRS.
The party first gave in to pressure from Huzurabad MLA Eatala Rajender — as well as Rajagopal Reddy — to replace incumbent BJP Telangana president Bandi Sanjay Kumar.
Here, too, Rajender had dropped subtle hints that if the party does not listen to him, he would have to examine the options before him, implying that he was not ruling out joining the Congress.
Although the BJP replaced Bandi Sanjay with staunch party loyalist and Union Minister G Kishan Reddy, it also appointed Eatala Rajender chairman of the key Election Management Committee at a time the state is headed for an election in less than six months.
The party leadership seems anxious to retain the leaders who find the Congress more alluring in the wake of the party’s prospects improving after its victory in Karnataka.
Meanwhile, Bandi Sanjay has reportedly refused to accept the Union minister’s post offered by the party central leadership in lieu of giving up the state leadership. The Karimnagar MP has apparently made it clear to the high command that he wanted to be an ordinary party worker, or “karyakarta”.
The party is also actively considering taking Adilabad MP Soyam Bapu Rao into the Cabinet as minister of state along with Bandi Sanjay. If the latter continues to decline the offer, the party might accommodate him somewhere in the party’s hierarchy.
Newly appointed Telangana BJP chief G Kishan Reddy got a rousing welcome at Hyderabad airport on his return to the city. (Supplied)
In another development, Kishan Reddy, who is Union culture, tourism and development of the Northeast region minister, skipped the meeting of the Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier in the day.
Though the confidants of Kishan Reddy were tight-lipped over the reason for his absence at the Cabinet meeting, sources told South First that it could be an indication that he may have to quit as Cabinet minister since, in the BJP, the one-man-one-post rule is implemented strictly.
Speaking to media persons in New Delhi, Kishan Reddy said he would take charge as president of the Telangana BJP after the visit of Prime Minister Modi to the state on July 8 to lay the foundation stone for several crucial infrastructure development projects worth around ₹6,100 crore.
“I am a disciplined worker of the party and I will go ahead as per its decision. The prime minister will hold a meeting in Warangal on 8 July. After that, I will take charge as the president of the BJP in Telangana. As far as my position as a Union minister is concerned, I will follow whatever the party decides,” he said in his first interaction with the media after his appoinment.
Responding to rumours that he was unhappy about his new position, Kishan Reddy said: “The party is my breath and life. I will discharge whatever responsibility is entrusted to me by the party.”
Kishan Reddy said he has worked as a soldier since his entry into the party in 1980.
“For me, party is everything and for the sake of party ideology, I will continue to work as an ordinary worker,” he said, adding that he did not ask anything of the party, though it recognised his worth and made him a Union Minister.
After being electing as an MP for the first time, he worked as Union minister of state for home affairs for two years and another two years as Union culture and tourism minister.
“I will move forward taking into confidence the national and state leaders with an aim to win the Assembly elections in the state,” he said.
Kishan Reddy said a meeting of the state presidents of Karnataka, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana would be held in Hyderabad on 9 July to discuss the strategy to be adopted to strengthen the party in South India and the steps to be taken to win more MP seats in the 2024 Parliament elections.
The strategy to be adopted for Assembly elections in Telangana would also be discussed at the meeting, he said.
Kishan Reddy would be in Warangal from 6 July to review the arrangements to be made for the visit by Prime Minister Modi.
A request has been made to the prime minister to visit the famous Sri Bhadrakali temple in Warangal. Modi will also address the public meeting at the University Arts College.
