Representative showing a BJP flag.
Credit: DH File Photo
Hyderabad: BJP appears to have lost steam in Telangana ahead of the November 30 polls to the state Assembly.
While it’s a common sight of party hopping by leaders during the poll season, there has been no big joining in BJP in the last few days that can create a ‘wave’ in favour of the saffron party in Telangana.
Instead, leaders like Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy whose fight in the Munugode bypoll had created a lot of hype for BJP just a year ago, have quit the party, and a few others who have joined the saffron party with a lot of expectations are feeling suffocated and looking for a vent or way out.
Barring former ministers Etela Rajender and DK Aruna, others who joined BJP over the years from other parties like Congress and BRS have not been seen active of late.
While D K Aruna has joined the BJP from Congress, Rajender quit the ruling BRS to join the saffron party. DK Aruna was subsequently made the party’s national vice president. Rajender’s by-poll fight from Huzurabad on a BJP ticket in 2021 had garnered nationwide attention.
Leaders like former MPs Konda Visweswar Reddy, G Vivek Venkata Swamy, and Vijayshanthi have been time and again denying rumours of quitting the BJP. But, they have often held private and internal meetings to discuss their ‘position’ in the party.
These leaders have increasingly felt that they are on the wrong side to take on BRS supremo and chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and his family. They now believe that the central leadership of Congress had occupied the space due to a lack of proper focus on the state.
Most importantly, slowing down the probe into the Delhi liquor scam by central agencies like ED and CBI in which KCR’s daughter K Kavitha’s involvement was suspected had only disappointed many of these leaders.
Dissident leaders like former MPs Vijayashanthi, Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, and G Vivek were also placed in different committees that the party had appointed in recent times for the Assembly polls.
“The majority of them had joined BJP with high hopes and expectations after the 2019 General Elections in which BJP had won four Lok Sabha seats. All those who were not comfortable either in BRS or Congress had found an opportunity in BJP to take on the KCR family. But, they now strongly feel that they are on the wrong side to fight KCR. That’s what even Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy hinted while quitting BJP to rejoin Congress,” a close aide of one of the dissident BJP leaders told DH.
The BJP had built momentum in Telangana after winning four Lok Sabha seats in 2019 polls and at one point it was believed that the saffron party had replaced Congress as the principal challenger to ruling BRS.
The party which had managed to get just one seat in the 2018 Assembly polls registered an impressive performance in GHMC polls in 2020 by bagging 48 of the 150 wards and also back-to-back wins in Huzurabad and Dubbaka bypoll.