Telangana assembly polls: BJP no more in preference list of dissident leaders

Till recently, the BJP projected itself as the real alternative to the ruling BRS, but now it is suddenly finding itself in an awkward situation with questions being raised about its capability to provide a viable alternative to the BRS

Hyderabad: Leaders who switched their allegiance to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from other parties with the fond hope that the Saffron party would provide a platform to take on BRS supremo and Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao in the upcoming assembly polls, now feel that they are on the wrong side and are looking for an opportunity to leave the BJP.

Till recently, the BJP projected itself as the real alternative to the ruling BRS, but now it is suddenly finding itself in an awkward situation with questions being raised about its capability to provide a viable alternative to the BRS. In fact, all those who were not comfortable in the BRS or the Congress preferred to join the BJP, but with the Saffron party losing steam and facing internecine clashes among its senior leaders, they are now going back to these two parties. The BJP’s slide started after its defeat in Munugode and since then several leaders have left the party.

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Former MLA Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy while quitting the BJP to rejoin Congress has hinted that there was no hope in the BJP and that several leaders would be leaving the party in the coming days. Dissident leaders like former MPs Vijayashanthi, Konda Vishweshwar Reddy and G Vivek Venkatswamy, who were accommodated in different committees that the party had appointed in recent times for the assembly polls, too are not so comfortable in the party and reportedly waiting for the right time to switch sides.

The BJP leadership was expecting a large number of senior leaders who failed to secure tickets in ruling BRS and Congress to join them, but that too is not happening as there has been no imprtant leader joining the BJP in the last few days. The Saffron party was under the impression that once a few big leaders from rival parties join it, there would be a wave in favour of it in the State which would help it win a few seats in the next month’s assembly polls. But now it looks as if it has to manage with its own leaders and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity.

The internal power struggle within the BJP has had a demoralizing effect on the party cadre and the leaders, who joined from the rival parties.