The Bharatiya Janata Party in Telangana has suddenly become quiet after the outcome of the assembly elections in Karnataka and the party is facing the threat of several leaders defecting to the Congress.
Apparently, the BJP national leadership has realised that state BJP president Bandi Sanjay Kumar has not been able to rejuvenate the party cadre which was demoralised after the Karnataka election results.
There are also complaints that Sanjay has not been able to take the seniors along with him in taking key decisions because of his high-handed attitude. As a result, the seniors are looking towards other parties.
Under these circumstances, reports from New Delhi indicate that the party national leadership is planning to revamp the Telangana unit to reactivate the party in the state. As part of that it has called for a meeting of senior BJP leaders from Telangana to New Delhi on Saturday.
Sources said the BJP national leadership is contemplating replacing Bandi Sanjay with senior leader and Union minister G Kishan Reddy as the Telangana BJP chief, as the latter commands a lot of respect among the party leaders and cadre. So, everybody would listen to him.
As part of the strategy, the high command called Kishan Reddy to New Delhi on Saturday afternoon. He cancelled all his engagements in Hyderabad and rushed there. This led to the talk that Kishan Reddy might get a big responsibility with regard to Telangana.
The high command also called seniors Eatala Rajender and Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy to New Delhi for talks, amidst reports that they are planning to defect to the Congress. If Kishan Reddy is made the Telangana BJP chief, these two leaders might stay back in the BJP, sources added.
