Rama Krishna Sangem
As expected, Union Cabinet MinisterG Kishan Reddy has been appointed president of Telangana BJP unit and party MLA Etela Rajender the newly formed election committee. Together, they are supposed to stem the steady decline BJP in Telangana has been witnessing for the last few months. These changes along with other appointments are announced on July 4, Tuesday.
Kishan Reddy is likely to be dropped from the Union Cabinet in a couple of days. Outgoing Telangana BJP president and Karimnagar MP Bandi Sanajy may be inducted as Minister of State at the Centre. If he is made an office bearer of BJP at the national level, Adilabad MP Soyam Bapbu Rao can be made a minister at the Centre. These changes are made to get maximum number of seats in Telangana in coming assembly elections..
Apart from Telangana, BJP central leadership has made changes in party units of four other states – Rajasthan – to be headed by union minister Gajendra Shekhawat, Punjab, Sunil Jakhar, Jharkhand, Babulal Marandi and Andhra Pradesh to get new president D Purandeswari. Sources say, some more states too get new presidents in a couple of days as the exercise is still going on.
Kishan Reddy, old horse
Kishan Reddy has already held the post of BJP state unit president twice in combined AP and in Telangana from 2014-16. He held several organisational positions both in BJP and its youth wing, BJ Yuva Morcha. Etela Rajender, on the other hand is a senior TRS who joined BJP two years ago and won as MLA from his Huzurabad assembly seat after he was dropped as state minister by CM KCR.
Rajender for sometime has been sulking that he was not given any important position in BJP and there were reports that he might switch over to Congress. Besides, there were complaints form the newly joined leaders against Sanjay that he was not taking them along in the party affairs. Rajender thanked the BJP leadership for giving him an opportunity to bring the party to power in November-December assembly elections.
