There is a saying in Telugu: “Aloo ledu, choolu ledu, koduku peru Somalingam” (There is no wife, no pregnancy, but he wants to name his son Somalingam). It aptly applies to the Bharatiya Janata Party in Telangana.
The BJP has just started picking up its strength in Telangana. In the 2018 assembly elections, it had won just one MLA seat and thanks to Modi wave, it could win four Lok Sabha seats in 2019.
Though it failed miserably in the elections to local bodies and Huzurnagar by-polls, the BJP managed to bounce back with a victory in Dubbak assembly by-elections albeit with a slender margin and a good show in the just concluded Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation elections.
Now, the BJP leaders have already dreaming about capturing power in Telangana in the next assembly elections, though the TRS still has three years more years to continue in power.
Well, one can always have dreams, but what is surprising is that the tussle for the chief minister post seems to have begun in the party, as if it has already come to power in the state.
Normally, the BJP doesn’t declare any chief ministerial candidate in any assembly elections so early, but it is being witnessed in the state now.
The recent statement made by Adilabad MP Soyam Bapu Rao declaring Union minister G Kishan Reddy as the future CM of Telangana has kicked up heated debate in the party.
Though Kishan Reddy is an important leader from Telangana, he had never been an aggressive player in the party.
So, naturally there was a resistance to Bapu Rao announcing Kishan Reddy’s name as the CM candidate.
Another section in the party has started demanding that the BJP should project an OBC leader as the CM candidate – apparently keeping in view present state BJP president Bandi Sanjay.
This section points out that Kishan Reddy has hardly been a man of masses, whereas Bandi Sanjay has been able to penetrate into the masses and establish himself as a powerful leader. So, they say Sanjay is a better choice than Kishan Reddy.
There is also another talk that the BJP leadership should choose an experienced leader like Ch Vidyasagar Rao or for that matter Bandaru Dattatreya, but not inexperienced people like Bandi Sanjay.
“This is ridiculous. Instead of talking about the chief ministerial candidate, it is better the party concentrates on strengthening its base in the state,” a political analyst observed.
