Rama Krishna Sangem
Malkajigiri MP Etela Rajender and former MLC N Ramchander Rao are ahead in the race for the post of Telangan BJP president post. Present state unit president and union minister G Kishan Reddy’s term has ended by June this year, but he is continuing till a new president is appointed by the central leadership.
There is a process here. Change of guard in the state BJP units is likely once a national president is installed any time after the elections to Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana. Present national BJP president JP Nadda who joined the union cabinet too would relinquish his post once a new person is named.
In Telangana BJP, many seniors are eyeing the state party president post. As union minister Kishan Reddy is not interested in continuing for another term, the mantle may fall on others. The names of union minister of state for home Bandi Sanjay Kumar and senior Rajya Sabha MP and all the powerful BJP parliamentary board member Dr K Laxman’s names too are doing rounds.
Both have strengths
However, these two have served as the state unit president in the past. If the choice comes to a new face, then the chances of either Rajender or Ramachander being considered are very high. If Rajender is relatively new entrant into BJP – 3-4 years standing, Ramachander is an old guard, rose in the ranks of ABVP and BJP, for about 40 years.
Rajender who served as a senior minister in the KCR cabinet for long has brought some gravitas to BJP when he joined the party three years ago. He not just won Huzurabad assembly by-poll then, but also galvanized OBCs, mostly predominant Mudirajs toward BJP. Now that he is an MP, Rajender will have some advantage to get the post.
Ramachander too commands greater clout within the party. As a senior advocate and an active leader, he enjoys the support of all the seniors – right from Kishan Reddy to Dr Laxdman and Sanjay. But, there are another few seniors in the race for the state unit president. BJP central leadership is known to pick up dark horses in the last minute.
Sanjay, Shankar, Raghunandan & Aravind too
After I spoke to many seniors in the party, the view gathered is that there could be some surprises. For instance, Sanjay has chances to become Telangana BJP president, if he is willing to give up the union junior minister post. Likewise, Medak MP Raghunandan Rao is interested in the post, if it is offered to the forward castes as he is a Velama. Otherwise, Nizamabad MP Dharmapuri Aravind and Adilabad MLA Payal Shankar, both OBCs, could be considered for the post.
