Appointed as new Telangana BJP president, uphill task awaits Union Minister G Kishan Reddy

An uphill task to get the BJP geared up for the Legislative Assembly polls to be held in a few months from now awaits Union Minister G Kishan Reddy who has been appointed as the new president of the party in Telangana.

The task to win the Assembly elections is difficult as BJP's rivals -- the ruling BRS and a resurgent Congress post Karnataka victory -- are raring to go.

More significantly, the immediate task for Kishan Reddy is to ensure smooth functioning in the state party unit in the wake of rumblings that saw him replacing Bandi Sanjay Kumar as state BJP president. Seeking to put an end to internal wrangling and protracted media speculation on the developments in the BJP, the party's central leadership on Tuesday appointed Kishan Reddy as state party chief in place of Sanjay Kumar.

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Curiously, Kishan Reddy is being tight-lipped, without giving any immediate response on his appointment as state BJP president. Sanjay Kumar, who took over as party president in 2020, who is rooted firmly in Hindutva ideology, infused fresh energy in the party ranks and took an aggressive stance against the BRS government.

Under his leadership, BJP won two Assembly bypolls and came up with a spectacular performance in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) election in the past couple of years.

However, MLA Eatala Rajender, who has now been appointed as chairperson of the election management committee, as well as some other leaders are reportedly not on the same page as Sanjay Kumar. Kishan Reddy, who had served as state unit president earlier in undivided Andhra Pradesh and later in Telangana, now faces the challenge of ensuring the harmonious functioning of the BJP and preparing it for the big electoral battles ahead.

He has to galvanise the party cadre who are disappointed over the internal wrangling in the BJP, which is otherwise said to be known for its discipline. Kishan Reddy will also have to work with Rajender, a popular leader from the backward classes who has his own support base outside the BJP, as well as other leaders who joined the BJP in recent years, and ensure that the party faces elections unitedly.

Rajender, who was a senior leader in BRS and minister in the K Chandrasekhar Rao government, had joined the BJP in 2021 following his removal from the state Cabinet over allegations of land grabbing. He quit as MLA and got re-elected in the subsequent bypoll.

Meanwhile, Rajender too faces the task of working in harmony with BJP old-timers as well as those who have joined the party in recent times.

BJP spokesperson in Telangana K Krishna Sagar Rao said Kishan Reddy's appointment as state party president would resolve "most of the conflicts between different leaders who have come from other parties".

"He (Kishan Reddy) is an experienced leader. He can sit and resolve issues, go into the details threadbare. He has the poise, composure and stature to sit along with senior leaders to ensure that these concerns are addressed," he told PTI on Wednesday.

Kishan Reddy's experience, stature and operational style will bring forth several resolutions inside and outside the party that are currently disturbing the pace of growth of the party, he noted. When told that the task of getting the state BJP fired up for the Assembly elections, facing stiff competition from ruling BRS and Congress is a difficult one, Krishna Sagar Rao pointed out that the Congress was not in the game two months ago and opined that a scenario of three-cornered contests in the polls would benefit the BJP. The BJP continues to see the same rise in the state, he said.

"The percentage rise, we see as an advantage again. The percentage rise we need to get is not another 25 per cent. Now, another 15 per cent of rise is good enough for us to actually beat one or either of these parties. In a three-cornered fight, we need to have only 35 to 37 per cent for us to lead," he said.

The public support for the BJP is intact and people still look at the party as the alternative (to ruling BRS) in view of its developmental agenda against a "family-run government", he claimed.