Hyderabad: On Monday, May 15, Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Huzurabad MLA Etela Rajender rushed to meet Union home minister Amit Shah in New Delhi. Although the meeting was called purportedly to discuss the Karnataka defeat and further strengthen the Telangana party unit, it was rumoured that Rajender with the support of nine other leaders had submitted a demand for the removal of Karimnagar MP Bandi Sanjay from the post of the party president.
Media reports claimed that Rajender, a former MLA of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (now called Bharat Rashtra Samithi)
and a close confidant of K. Chandrashekar Rao who also heads the committee to oversee fresh party joinings, is leading a faction of dissenters against Sanjay.
“Both Rajendra and Sanjay are respected leaders with their own strengths and support bases. So naturally there will be some competition and a few difficulties when working together. Nonetheless, they share a cordial relationship,” N.V. Subhash, BJP Telangana state unit spokesperson told The Wire.
Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy, a former Congress heavyweight currently with the BJP, is also believed to be part of this group of dissidents comprised of leaders who joined the party after the 2018 assembly elections. There is something else that is common among this group of dissidents.
“None of these leaders are committed to the core Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ideology. For instance, Etela Rajender is someone with left leanings. How can he fit in the BJP? He may have joined the BJP to defeat KCR. Now that he got his revenge, he is in a dilemma, which is only natural,” All India Congress Committee member Vamshi Chand Reddy told The Wire.
Amid these speculations, A. Revanth Reddy, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president, extended an invitation to former members of the party, expressing his readiness to step aside if necessary to accommodate them for the betterment of the party.
“Congress is like a mother and those who have left their mother in a fit of anger or for some perceived differences with other leaders can always come back. The party is ready to accept them and they can all work under Sonia Gandhi or AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge if they are uncomfortable with me or others,” he said, speaking to reporters at Gandhi Bhavan in Hyderabad on Thursday.
Although both Rajender and Rajagopal denied such speculation and rejected these invitations, a source close to the BJP party in Telangana told The Wire that all is not hunky dory in their camp.
would be able to do this. The BJP leaders in the state of Telangana are united and constantly strive to proudly form BJP's government in Telangana. It is not my practice to switch parties, and it is inappropriate to publish such news without consulting me.
— Eatala Rajender (@Eatala_Rajender) May 18, 2023
“We saw what transpired between D.K. Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah in Karnataka earlier. You cannot have two lions in the same cage. Thus far, strict party discipline has kept these factional tendencies at bay. But with the Karnataka defeat, one faction seems emboldened to act,” the source told The Wire.
Another source close to the BJP suspects Congress’s role in all this to give an impression that the BJP is weak. Rajagopal, speaking in Delhi on Thursday, alleged the same too. In response, Vamshi Chand Reddy issued a “non-denial” of a denial.
“Of course we would want to build on our victory in Karnataka. And as part of that effort we are looking at various means to cut down and expose the BJP in Telangana to our advantage,” he told The Wire.
He further added that communal polarisation is clearly not working for the BJP, especially in rural Telangana.
“It has frustrated the non-RSS BJP leaders, the so-called dissidents, to realise that the Congress is the better alternative to defeat the BRS and KCR. And we will do everything possible to convince the people of Telangana of the same,” he said.
On ideological incompatibility being an issue, BJP’s N.V. Subash argued that it hardly mattered since all BJP leaders share a common goal – KCR’s defeat.
“We are fighting against KCR in favour of the people on non-ideological issues like corruption, unemployment, prise rise and others. As is the case within all parties, including the Congress, differences do exist between leaders. Rajender and Sanjay might disagree about strategy on the ground but certainly not on ideological ones,” he told The Wire.
When asked as to whether Rajender’s faction was concerned over finding a strong local face – considering Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s frequent campaigns in Karnataka did not really translate into a victory – Subhash said: “One election is not an indicator of a trend. In fact we see the Karnataka results as an outlier. PM Modi ji’s popularity is still intact and we believe under his leadership we will be successful in Telangana.”