Day after Modi’s visit to Telangana, BJP faces mutiny over Dalit bias

Former Minister and five-time MLA A Chandrashekar has sparked off another controversy that the saffron party will find quite embarrassing

Hyderabad: A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s visit to the State and the same day when BJP national president chaired the party’s regional consultative meeting in Hyderabad, veteran leader, former Minister and five-time MLA A Chandrashekar has sparked off another controversy that the saffron party will find quite embarrassing.

Chandrashekhar was reportedly denied a pass to attend the Prime Minister’s public meeting at Warangal on Saturday. Expressing serious displeasure over the party’s national leadership not providing him a pass, the senior politician reportedly told media persons that the BJP wants Dalit votes but would not give Dalit leaders importance in the party.

---

“I was elected MLA five times and I thrice served as a minister. Still I was not given the pass. If this is the plight of a Dalit leader, what will be the fate of an ordinary Dalit?” he is said to have asked, also warning that if the party did not change its attitude, it would be difficult for it to grow in Telangana.

“If the party does not give importance to Dalits, how will it get their support in the polls?” he asked.

Chandrashekhar served as an MLA for five times from 1985 to 2008. He won as MLA for four times from TDP and once from the BRS (then TRS). He later joined the Congress, but resigned and joined the BJP in 2021.

The senior politician also expressed displeasure over the decision of the party leadership to remove Bandi Sanjay as party State president. The party leadership has committed a grave mistake by replacing Sanjay, he said, adding that the rank and file of the party was against replacing Sanjay still the party high command succumbed to the pressure of a few leaders, he alleged.

“Sanjay is not happy. Kishan Reddy is not happy. Party cadres are not happy with the decision of the party high command,” he said.

Chandrashekar also found fault with the party leadership for appointing Huzurabad MLA Eatala Rajender as the party’s campaigning committee chairman. He felt that the party leadership was giving undue importance to Eatala which was creating unrest among party leaders and cadres.

He even questioned the intention behind Modi targeting BRS President and Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao and his family during the Warangal public meeting. “If KCR and his family are involved in corruption, why is the Centre not taking action?” he asked.