There is trouble brewing in Telangana BJP after reports that new entrant to the party, and Huzurabad MLA Eatala Rajender may be made campaign committee chief in the run-up to the Assembly election in the State later this year, a situation strongly resented by BJP State president Bandi Sanjay Kumar.
Senior sources in the BJP have told The Hindu that Mr. Kumar has been given enough indications by Sunil Bansal, BJP general secretary in charge of Telangana, that Mr. Rajender’s appointment would be announced soon. “Ever since then, he has kept away from the State unit office, and public appearances, and apart from working hard for Home Minister Amit Shah’s public meeting in Khammam on June 15, he is basically not otherwise involved in party work,” said a source.
Mr. Rajender left the then Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) – now Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) – where he had been Health Minister in 2020 and won the hard-fought Huzurabad Assembly bypoll on a BJP ticket thereafter. Belonging to the Mudiraj community, a Backward Class, he was an important addition to the BJP’s ranks, in a State where the party has been trying to gain traction for a while.
His entry, however, has also led to a tug of war between a block of new entrants and the older members of the BJP in the State. Mr. Kumar’s aides say that campaign committee responsibility for Mr. Rajender would be like rewarding bad performance, as he was also the chief of the joining committee, “but barely anyone has joined the party.”
Also Read | Telangana BJP faces uphill task in quest for power
After the Karnataka Assembly election, the first impact was felt by the BJP in Telangana, where at least five Congress leaders who had been ready to jump ship to the BJP withdrew after their own party’s victory in the neighbouring State. The BJP has reached out the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) for an alliance in Telangana. The direction of the BJP high command’s pro-activeness however, has left the State unit, especially Mr. Kumar, who had been commended by no less than Prime Minister Modi for his Praja Sangrama Yatra, resentful and upset. Before hunting for 119 candidates for the Telangana Assembly election, the BJP will need to set its house in order within.
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Sources said Mr. Rajender is feeling uncomfortable in the party as he is still being viewed as an outsider by the traditional BJP leaders and the cadre despite his best efforts. The ongoing alleged tussle with the State BJP chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar also came up for discussion with the Assam Chief Minister. However, Mr. Rajender’s detractors said there was nothing political about the visit.
(With inputs from Hyderabad)
