Meanwhile, state BJP chief Bandi Sanjay noted that Congress and BRS have already finalised 30 candidates to contest the Assembly elections.
Eatala Rajender and Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy stayed away from the Intintiki BJP programme that was held across the state. (Twitter)
The disquiet in the Telangana BJP is yet again out in the open.
MLA Eatala Rajender and former MLA Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy stayed away from the party’s “Intintiki BJP” programme, organised by the party across the state to explain the development and welfare programmes launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Union government in the last nine years.
Rajender is maintaining a strategic silence and not actively attending the party’s programmes after a few senior leaders expressed displeasure over him allegedly leaking to the media that he would be made chairman of the BJP Publicity Committee in Telangana.
Rajagopal Reddy, on the other hand, is likely to be staying away from the party’s programmes as his brother and Congress MP Komatireddy Venkat Reddy is trying to bring him back to the Congress and is, accordingly, holding consultations with the high command in New Delhi.
Meanwhile, Telangana BJP president Bandi Sanjay Kumar on Thursday, 22 June, accused Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao of attempting to whip up the “Telangana sentiment” once again to derive electoral mileage, keeping in view the year-end Assembly polls.
The BJP’s “Intintiki BJP” (BJP to every household) programme is aimed at galvanising the cadre from the polling booth-level and highlighting Modi’s achievements.
Interacting with people during the “Intintiki BJP” programme at booth number 173 at Chaitanyapuri in Karimnagar, Bandi Sanjay said that both the Congress and the BRS have already finalised 30 candidates to contest the Assembly elections and added that KCR was ready to extend financial assistance to them.
“The strategy is that if the Congress candidates win the elections, then they can join the BRS,” he said.
He added that the chief minister has more confidence in the Congress candidates than his own party’s candidates. KCR was under the impression that those in the Congress were his own party leaders, Bandi Sanjay said.
Meanwhile, speculation is rife in political circles in Telangana over the re-entry of former MLA Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy to the Congress after the party’s victory in Karnataka in the recent Assembly elections.
He had resigned as MLA and from the Congress party and joined the BJP in August 2022. He unsuccessfully contested on a BJP ticket in the Munugode Assembly constituency by-elections last November.
The BRS — then the TRS — won that battle, with its candidate Prabhakar Reddy defeating Rajagopal Reddy by more than 10,000 votes.
His brother Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, who is a Congress MP from the Bhongir Lok Sabha constituency, told reporters three days ago in New Delhi that all those who left the Congress would rejoin the party.
When the reporters repeatedly asked him whether his brother Rajagopal Reddy would return to Congress as well, he said all the leaders would come back to the party.
“During my 20-minute discussion with the high command, I discussed the names of the leaders who were willing to join the party,” he said, refusing to share further details.
“It’s an internal matter of the party….. I cannot share more details…” he said, adding that he requested senior leaders in New Delhi to allocate more time to focus on Telangana and asked them to visit the state for at least every 10 days.
The Telangana BJP has been facing a leadership tussle between those who made a lateral entry into the party — such as former BRS leader Eatala Rajender — and the old guard steeped in the culture of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), such as state party chief Bandi Sanjay.
Huzurabad legislator and former minister Eatala Rajender is the leader of the dissidents in the party and has managed to convey to BJP party leadership his dissatisfaction over the way the party is being run in Telangana.
According to sources, Eatala Rajender’s strategy of taking the enemy, the BRS, head-on is at variance with the BJP’s established course — using Hindutva as its main plank.
There have been reports that the party might entrust him with an important responsibility, such as making him the campaign in-charge in Telangana.
Though Rajender’s supporters want him to lead the party in Telangana, it is unlikely that the BJP would accede to their request since he is of non-RSS stock.
Rajender was in New Delhi recently and was apparently chastised by the party high command and asked not to rock the boat ahead of the upcoming Assembly election.
He has been maintaining a low profile since his return, and his decision to skip the BJP party event has rekindled the speculation about his dissatisfaction with the way the saffron party is being managed in Telangana.
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