Telangana BJP poll panels in complete mess

The BJP manifesto committee, headed by former MP Vivek Venkatswamy, which has now gone for a toss after he switched loyalties to the Congress.

Hyderabad: The State BJP is in a total mess with most of the election committees constituted to prepare the party for the upcoming assembly elections turning non-functional as persons heading or associated with them have either left the party or are staying away from its activities.

The BJP had constituted 14 committees to prepare and lead the party into the elections. However, most of them have not been active. Take for instance, the BJP manifesto committee, headed by former MP Vivek Venkatswamy, which has now gone for a toss after he switched loyalties to the Congress. Even the panel convenor Alleti Maheshwar Reddy and joint convenor Konda Vishweshwar Reddy are not totally involved in the process of preparing the party’s poll manifesto. Maheshwar Reddy, who has been allotted the Nirmal assembly segment is busy with campaigning and Vishweshwar Reddy, who is not so happy with the functioning of the party, has been away from the party activities for the last few months.

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The BJP leaders are worried as Vivek had knowledge of key inputs for the party’s manifesto and finding a replacement at such a short notice has become very difficult for the party leadership. Vivek had drafted the 2018 manifesto and had fairly good knowledge of State issues. Party sources said BJP candidates were facing a lot of problems interacting with people without a party manifesto, as based on the promises made in it people take their decisions.

Former MP Vijayashanthi was appointed chairperson of the agitation committee, but she has been missing from action for the last few months. In fact, the party leadership has totally sidelined her and even refused to nominate her from any constituency for the upcoming polls.

Similarly, the post of chairman of Headquarters Coordination also fell vacant after former MLA N Indrasena Reddy was appointed Governor of Tripura. Even former MP AP Jithender Reddy, who was appointed chairman of Scheduled Caste Constituencies Coordination committee, is busy campaigning for his son Mithun Kumar Reddy, who is contesting from Mahabubnagar.

Former MLA Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy, who resigned from BJP to return to Congress, was heading the screening committee of the party and after he left the party, no one knows the fate of the committee.

Though less than three weeks are left for the election, the BJP leadership has so far not taken up rallies and outreach programmes in most of the constituencies. In fact, State BJP president G Kishan Reddy has attended only one rally in Kamareddy after the announcement of the party’s first list.