There is little likelihood of Telangana BJP president and Karimnagar MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar from being replaced as party president what with the elections just an year away though his term is coming to end. This was made amply clear by national general secretary Tarun Chugh to some of the leaders when they met him in New Delhi.
“A decision to shift him to the Union Cabinet will be taken only under certain compelling reason and here, the party central leadership is happy with the synergy he has brought to the functioning of the cadre,” he is said to have informed them, according top party sources on Friday.
The leadership is understood to have been conscious of the systematic campaign launched by a section of the party about the purported leadership change since the president’s three- year term is soon to end and has taken a serious note of the same. There is active lobbying with the central leadership to convince it about projecting another candidate belonging to the Backward Classes promising to match the BRS in spending capacity in the next elections.
Now, with regard to the induction of one of the MPs from Telangana into the Union Cabinet, the names of Adilabad MP Soyam Babu Rao and Nizamabad MP D. Aravind are being bandied about while Rajya Sabha member and national OBC Morcha president K. Laxman is said to have an outside chance, though he is already a Parliamentary Board Member.
But, it is certainly going to be a delicate task for the central leadership considering that the last two MPs belong to the same community as that of the party president and hence, the observation that it might not send the ‘right signal’ whereas Mr. Babu Rao belongs to the Scheduled Tribes. Incidentally, all the five BJP MPs including Union Minister for Tourism, Culture and Development of Northeast G. Kishan Reddy and Secunderabad MP, are all first time MPs.
“It is up to the high command to take a decision but there is no doubt about hectic lobbying going on and anything is possible,” said party sources.
