Kishan Reddy is back: Is there a KCR link behind his appointment as Telangana BJP chief?

In a widely anticipated move, the BJP High Command brought back G Kishan Reddy, the Union tourism minister with a cabinet rank, as president of its Telangana unit instead of Bandi Sanjay Kumar, a fierce critic of Chief Minister KCR.

Unfortunately for Kishan Reddy, his arrival has been greeted by a rather negative feeling that his leadership will relegate the BJP to the third position, making the Assembly election later this year a straight contest between the ruling BRS and the Congress.

Also Read: What was Akhilesh-KCR meeting all about? Speculations run rife in Telangana

The media is full of narratives about how BJP would dilute its hostility towards the BRS following Kishan’s appointment. The Telugu media even reported that the process of change of guard was accelerated only after IT and municipal minister KT Ramarao visited New Delhi, implying that Kishan was appointed the BJP president at the behest of BRS.

Earlier, Kishan Reddy headed the state BJP twice — first in united Andhra Pradesh (2010-14) and then in Telangana (2014-16).

BJP-BRS nexus?

For a couple of months, Telangana politics has revolved around chief minister KCR’s daughter K Kavitha, who was questioned four times by the Enforcement Directorate in the Delhi liquor scam. After Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia’s arrest in March 2023, the ED created such hype that everyone thought the next arrest would be that of Kavitha.

But it did not happen. Raising doubts about a deal between BRS and BJP, the ED abruptly disappeared from the scene after the BJP’s defeat in Karnataka elections.

Then onwards every development, including the appointment of the soft-spoken Kishan Reddy, is seen as a corollary to the deal. Party sources opine that Kishan Reddy’s first task will be to steer clear of the negative publicity his appointment is attracting.

Kishan Reddy enjoys the reputation of being an ‘ajatasatru’. Nobody, either in the party or outside, talks ill of him. He is a good speaker though his language lacks ferocity which is the salient feature of his predecessor Sanjay. Sanjay, with his grip over North Telangana dialect with a high dose of abuses and crude jokes, used to incense crowds.

Kishan Reddy, who launched his political career with the Janata party in 1977, joined the BJP in 1980. He was elected to the Assembly three times from Hyderabad’s Himayatnagar and Amberpet constituencies. In 2019, he became an MP by winning the Secunderabad Lok Sabha constituency.

Why Kishan?

The talk is that Kishan Reddy was chosen to placate Sanjay’s critics, who reportedly gave an ultimatum to the Delhi leaders that they would be forced to quit the party if Sanjay was continued.

And one of the aspirants for the post of party president, Eatala Rajender, has been appointed the chairman of the election management committee, a new post created for him.

Party insiders say Kishan Reddy himself was reluctant to take up the job at the time of elections. But the high command is said to have persuaded him as none of the critics of Sanjay were ideologically loyal to the party.

For instance, M Raghunandan Rao, party MLA from Dubbak, who claims that he was eminently eligible to lead the party, was a TRS politburo member before he joined the BJP in 2013.

Another aspirant, Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy, was a Congress MLA before quitting the Assembly and party to join the BJP in 2022. His joining the BJP necessitated a byelection in Munugode constituency which he lost.

Also Read: BJP’s Telangana dilemma: How to placate Reddys ahead of Assembly polls

Eatala Rajender was a BRS cabinet minister before embracing the BJP. DK Aruna, now the party’s national vice president, comes from a Congress family background. All these leaders have publicly vowed to defeat BRS and KCR in the next Assembly election.

Anti-KCR feelings

Their agenda is not the saffronisation of Telangana but is limited to ensure that BRS and KCR are defeated. Their opposition to Sanjay stems from the view that the latter’s virulent Hindutva talk was diverting the voters’ attention from the real issue of defeating KCR.

Many feel it would be a formidable challenge for Kishan Reddy to muster their support amid talk that BJP wants to go soft on BRS under his leadership.

However, former BJP MLC NVSS Prabhakar disagrees with the view. “It is not a Telangana-specific change. New chiefs have been appointed in many states as part of the preparations for the coming elections. Everyone will get his or her share of responsibility and we will give a united fight and try to win the elections,” Prabhakar said.

But Sanjay’s removal has not gone down well with a section of leaders and cadre. Actor-turned-politician Vijayashanti expressed dismay at the removal of Sanjay. Stating that Sanjay groomed the party to walk like a flame, she hoped that he would be accommodated in a suitable position to prove that committed party workers would not be ignored,” she tweeted.

Meanwhile, a couple of party workers, one from Khammam and another from Sircilla, attempted suicide to register their protest over the removal of Sanjay.

Congress flays

The Telangana Congress reacted in its typical style, stating that the BJP had exposed its anti-OBC face by removing Sanjay, a BC leader.

Congress general secretary Mahesh Kumar Goud alleged that the BJP removed Sanjay at the insistence of BRS supremo KCR. “BCs have no place in the BJP. All OBCs of Telangana should take a lesson from the insult heaped on Sanjay,” he said in a statement.

A BJP insider felt sad over the state of affairs in the party. “The BJP has witnessed dissension in an unprecedented way. Never in the past has it been bogged down by so much internal turbulence that it led to a change of the state chief. It is difficult to say if the party has fixed a problem or invited a new one. Only time will tell,” he told The Federal on condition of anonymity.