Hyderabad: Telangana BJP will have a new head before local body polls, said G Kishan Reddy, the state president of the saffron party, on Sunday. Addressing a press conference at Hanumakonda, Reddy, also union minister of coal, said his appointment before the Assembly polls in 2023 was meant for only three or four months but he is being continued for various reasons.
“Certainly. 100 per cent. I came ( was appointed) to fill the time gap. I came for two or three months. But it (appointment of new chief) is getting postponed for several reasons. As soon as possible, a new president will come,” he told reporters when asked if a new president for Telangana will be appointed before local body polls.
Seeking to put an end to internal wrangling and protracted media speculation, the BJP top leadership, in July 2023 before the state assembly polls, appointed Kishan Reddy as the state party chief, replacing Bandi Sanjay Kumar, who is now the Union Minister of State for Home. Speculation was rife that a new head will take over after the General Elections last year, replacing Kishan Reddy.
BJP in Telangana earlier this month announced names of presidents for 19 district units as part of its organisational election process, kicking up speculation over appointment of new president for the state units. BJP sources had indicated that Lok Sabha member from Malkajgiri Eatala Rajender and former MLC N Ramchander Rao are the front-runners for the state unit president's post if the party's central leadership decides to relieve Kishan Reddy from his organisational responsibility.
Rajender was a senior leader in the BRS and had even served as minister for finance and health in the governments headed by former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao before he joined BJP in 2021. He fell out with the BRS leadership and quit the regional party after he was sacked from KCR's cabinet over allegations of land grabbing.
He had then resigned from his MLA post and joined the BJP and went on to win the Assembly bypoll to Huzurabad assembly segment caused by his resignation. Rajender was, however, defeated in the 2023 Telangana Legislative Assembly polls but he won the Malkajgiri Lok Sabha seat in 2024.
Ramchander Rao, a senior advocate in Telangana High Court, had served as BJP MLC. An old timer in the BJP, the soft-spoken Ramchander Rao is seen as acceptable to all.
