BJP central leadership will take final call on new party chief here

Telangana BJP prepares to replace state president with central high command's choice, sparking speculation and lobbying among members.

Telangana Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has completed an elaborate internal exercise of first activating party membership for the old and new, followed by choosing/electing mandal level presidents and now about 19 district chiefs. All this is to finalise a candidate to replace Union Minister of Coal and Mines G. Kishan Reddy as the State party president.

It is now clear that the ‘grassroots level elections’ notwithstanding, the new president will be anointed by the central high command and there is not going to be any contest between any claimants. To be more specific, the top three — Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and national party president plus Health Minister J.P. Nadda — will pick the new chief armed with inputs from an internal survey and opinion of select local leaders.

When the name will be disclosed remains uncertain though many leaders are sure it will be happen this month. “It will be decided by February 15 as soon as the Delhi Assembly election results are out. I don’t think the MLC polls ahead here will be a factor to delay the same,” said one leader, not wishing to be identified.

Another senior leader had a different view: “A new Telangana party president is not on the top of the agenda for our national leadership. The ongoing Parliament budget session and the forthcoming elections to State Assemblies like Bihar are more crucial. What is the urgency in picking a new president when it can only open a can of worms among the veterans and recent entrants?”.

It is no secret that the party loyalists with a ‘Sangh’ base or ABVP student wing background are lobbying for someone from their side to be chosen for the top post. In fact, a group of veterans were in New Delhi recently to pitch their case strongly with powerful general secretaries like B.L. Santosh, Arvind Menon, Sunil Bansal and others. Former MLC N. Ramchander Rao continues to be the frontrunner among them.

On the other hand, recent entrants, including some newly elected MPs, too have been pretty active making no bones about their ambitions and claiming to have the backing of one or two key leaders in the national capital. Former Minister and Malkajgiri MP Eatala Rajender has his nose in front from this group.

Several other names too are being bandied about including a few voluble MP/MLAs and a few senior leaders keeping a low profile for now but working quietly behind the scenes. Despite a supposed exercise of seeking opinions and internal (s)elections, no one wants to take a bet who will be crowned. There is a also buzz about having a ‘working’ president as a compromise between warring groups.