BJP central leadership unlikely to take a call on appointing State party chief
The buzz around the change in State leadership of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Telangana seems to have ebbed for now. With the central leadership busy with the forthcoming Assembly elections to a few key States including Haryana and Maharashtra as well as trying to keep the Uttar Pradesh affairs from boiling over.
Yet, the party sources inform that the top post tussle has narrowed down to former MLC N. Ramchander Rao and former Minister and Malkajgiri MP Eatala Rajender with the former having the backing of the old guard and the Sangh while the latter has the backing of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
One of the prime reasons for seeking a new chief is because the current State president and Union Minister for Coal and Mines G. Kishan Reddy, after being made in charge of Jammu & Kashmir, has been quite busy and unable to devote time to the party affairs with the local body polls looming large, they say.
While the newly elected eight MPs and eight MLAs have been asked to focus on the local body polls to strengthen the party base and expand, many of them have also thrown their hat into the party chief post ring. Although the central leadership is said to have expressed disapproval to the “veterans vs newcomers” terminology, intense lobbying is going on here and in New Delhi for quite sometime.
Apparently, the Sangh has conveyed the message that president should have strong roots in the organisation, ideologically sound and ability to take the cadre along. No prizes for guessing the hint. Therefore, from among the veteran leaders, the choice had initially shortlisted to general secretary G. Manohar Reddy, former general secretary Ch. Sambhamurthy and few others, apart from Mr. Rao. But, the latter seemed to have emerged in front.
While the MPs – Nizamabad’s D. Aravind, Mahabubnagar’s D.K. Aruna and Medak’s M. Raghunandan Rao are all interested in the post, Mr. Rajender is in the forefront from among the newcomers. He has been playing the ‘BC’ card and assuring to turn the local body polls in the party’s favour.
Problem is no one is sure about the selection process. “There will be a central representative conducting informal talks with the office bearers, district presidents and contenders. But, the decision of the central leadership could also be independent of the majority opinion as it happened during the last two presidential choices,” remarked a senior leader, requesting anonymity, adding to the conundrum.
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