Hyderabad (IANS) | The BJP, which till a few weeks ago was the main challenger to the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) in Telangana, seems to have slipped to the third position in the election year here following infighting and its defeat in the Karnataka assembly elections.
Not long ago the saffron party was projecting itself as the only viable alternative to the BRS in the state and its leaders were hoping that Telangana would become their second gateway into the south after Karnataka.
However, today she finds herself batting on difficult wickets.
Political analysts say a shift towards the Congress after the party’s landslide victory in Karnataka, BRS rebels preferring the grand old party over the BJP and growing voices of discontent against the state leadership have landed the saffron party in trouble. .
With reports of some leaders joining the BJP and now planning to join the Congress, the morale of the party seems to be falling further.
With only four-five months left for the elections, the BJP faces a tough challenge in going into the fray as a united unit.
BJP MLA Eatala Rajender and former MLA Komatireddy Raj Gopal Reddy are reportedly planning to quit the party and join the Congress.
It will be a big embarrassment for the BJP as Rajendra is heading the committee or panel that has been tasked with wooing leaders of other parties to join the saffron camp.
Chief Minister K. Rajendra quit the BRS in 2021 after he was dropped from the state cabinet by Chandrasekhar Rao. He had also given up his assembly seat, Huzurabad, and joined the BJP. In the by-election held the same year, Rajendra was re-elected with a large margin.
Raj Gopal Reddy, who was the Congress MLA from Munugode, followed in the footsteps of Rajendra. Union Home Minister Amit Shah himself came to Munugode to welcome the businessman-politician into the party. However, Raj Gopal Reddy failed to repeat Huzurabad in Munugode last year and the BRS wrested the seat.
Political analyst Palavai Raghavendra Reddy said, the BJP’s downfall had started after the defeat in Munugode. The party which was in aggressive mode started looking weak.
Now that the Congress has regained its lost ground, Raj Gopal Reddy seems keen to return to the party fold. His brother and Bhongir MP Komatireddy Venkata Reddy is also making efforts to ensure his return.
Both the leaders stayed away from the mass contact program organized by the BJP across the state on June 22 to reach out to 35 lakh households in a single day to highlight the achievements of the Modi government during the last nine years.
Both Rajender and Raj Gopal Reddy as well as some other leaders like former MP Konda Vishweshwar Reddy, who had quit the Congress to join the BJP, are unhappy with the working style of state unit president Bandi Sanjay Kumar.
The BJP’s central leadership is worried about developments in Telangana, evident from the fact that both Rajendra and Raj Gopal Reddy have been called to Delhi, in what is seen as a last-ditch effort to persuade them to stay with the BJP .
However, Sanjay is trying to put up a strong face. When asked about the plans of some BJP leaders to join the Congress, he said, “If someone wants to board a sinking ship, we cannot stop him.”
In the BJP camp, infighting between different factions has been visible for several months.
The differences surfaced again last month when Rajendra and other leaders went to Khammam to meet former MP Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy and former minister Jupalli Krishna Rao without informing Bandi Sanjay and other senior leaders to invite them to join the BJP. Can go
Since Srinivasa Reddy and Krishna Rao were recently suspended by the BRS for anti-party activities, Eatala and others held talks with them to persuade them to join the saffron party.
Rajendra later reveals that both the leaders tried to persuade him to join hands with them to oust the BRS from power.
Buoyed by its victory in the Karnataka elections, the Congress party seems to be overtaking the BJP in attracting rebels from other parties.
Political observers say that with the recent induction of leaders from BRS and other parties, the Congress party has started emerging as the main challenger to the BRS.
In the last few days, the Congress party has also been successful in wooing the rebel BRS leaders who earlier seemed to favor the BJP.
With Srinivasa Reddy and Krishna Rao almost making up their mind to join Congress, the Congress party seems to be getting great success.
This is not the first time that bitterness is being seen in the BJP camp. Recently, BJP MP Arvind Dharampuri, daughter of Chief Minister and BRS leader K. Bandi on Kavita came out in open against Sanjay’s alleged derogatory remarks. The Nizamabad MP had said that he did not agree with Bandi’s remarks.
It was a blow to the party as Arvind is a bitter critic of CM KCR and his family. he 201
