Telangana BJP’s internal bickering goes from bad to worse

Looks like the entire top leadership of the State BJP is a divided house with each pursuing their own agenda

Hyderabad: The internal bickering within the State unit of the BJP is slipping from bad to worse despite desperate attempts by the national leadership, with the divide between recent entrants and the old guard deepening.

According to party sources, the party leadership fears that if it is unable to reach out and rein in these rebel voices, it could end up ruining the party’s plans for Assembly polls and also 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

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Earlier, it looked like Huzurabad MLA Eatala Rajender and former MLA Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy had some issues with State Unit chief Bandi Sanjay and once that was resolved, everything would be set right. However, it looks like the entire top leadership of the State BJP is a divided house with each pursuing their own agenda.

On Thursday, National Executive member AP Jithender Reddy’s video of a man kicking a buffalo to force its way onto a lorry, suggesting the same treatment for the BJP’s Telangana leadership.

The tweet, sharply critical of the State leadership, was viewed in the backdrop of BJP leaders Rajagopal Reddy and Eatala Rajender meeting Amit Shah to discuss issues related with State president Bandi Sanjay’s leadership. Responding to Reddy’s tweet, State BJP chief spokesperson Krishna Sagar Rao issued a statement strongly condemning public statements being made by Jithender Reddy.

“They seem to be forgetting the party they are currently representing. BJP is not like Congress or BRS,” he said.

Krishna Sagar was also critical of Rajagopal Reddy and Eatala Rajender and blamed them for the present crisis in the party. “The entry of these leaders into BJP has damaged the party’s image, as they aren’t acting like karyakartas. This behaviour isn’t in keeping with the spirit of the party,” he said.

Even before Jitender Reddy’s issue could settle down, it was the turn of Dubbaka BJP MLA M Raghunandan Rao, who expressed displeasure over the party high command’s plan to reward discontent leaders with key posts. He reportedly told the party leadership that if the party starts rewarding discontent leaders, it would set a wrong precedent and every discontent leader would start demanding posts.

Raghunandan Rao is agitated that he had been treated unfairly and that preferential treatment was being given to other party members. Sources said that Raghunandan Rao has been upset about the party’s national leadership inviting Eatala and Rajgopal Reddy to Delhi for talks and also that his request to be appointed as a national spokesperson of the party was ignored.

Interestingly, Eatala, who recently announced that he had no plans to leave BJP, has removed the BJP logo from his official Twitter handle, with the bio describing him only as the Huzurabad MLA.