A fiery new leader, a ‘soft’ veteran, and an OBC voice: The big three of Telangana BJP

If the party has to come true on that promise, it depends on these three:

G Kishan Reddy, Telangana BJP president

In a surprise move this July, G Kishan Reddy, 59, the Union Minister for Tourism, Culture and Development of the Northeastern region, replaced Bandi Sanjay Kumar as the Telangana BJP chief. Many speculate this was to rein in differences emerging in the state unit.

Reddy, with his previous experience as the BJP Telangana president between 2014-16, seems to have succeeded in the task. And his role at the centre appears to have helped. “He has a better rapport with the central BJP leadership. The BJP leaders here are confident that he will lead the party well during the elections,’’ a BJP leader said.

Another senior state leader says that the “disgruntled factions” of the party have been brought together.

A member of the Janata Party in his student days before he moved to the BJP, Reddy served as the treasurer of the Andhra Pradesh unit of the BJP in the early ’80s. He subsequently became secretary of the BJP Yuva Morcha.

He was first elected MLA from the Himayatnagar seat in 2004, which was later merged with the Khairtabad constituency. He won the Amberpet seats in 2009 and 2014. Reddy was president of the BJP in undivided Andhra Pradesh between 2010-14, and was appointed as head of the Telangana wing after its creation in June 2014.

But there is a complaint from some sections of the party who feel Reddy is too “soft” in his stance towards the BRS, especially in contrast to the “fierce” attacks of Kumar.

Bandi Sanjay Kumar

As the state BJP president between May 2020 and July this year, the 52-year-old is credited with having helped the BJP expand its support base through his statewide Praja Sangram Yatra.

Starting in August 2021, Kumar held the yatra over five phases, covering more than 60 Assembly constituencies. The yatra also drew praise from Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who spoke of Kumar at a public meeting. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is said to have congratulated him in private.

The BJP is currently banking on him to draw the crowds mobilised through the yatra for the forthcoming polls.

This is quite a leap for Kumar, who was a relatively low-profile figure in the state BJP till just four years ago. He shot into the limelight after he won the Karimnagar Lok Sabha seat in 2019, after having lost the Assembly seat by the same name just months prior. Before this, he was elected Karimnagar municipal corporator twice.

An ABVP leader previously, he had contested the 2014 and 2018 Assembly elections from Karimnagar but lost both times to the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (or TRS, as BRS was known then).

But leaders have complained about his style of functioning. While one of them says he is not easy to work with, another says he prefers working “solo”.

K Laxman, BJP OBC Morcha national president

A soft-spoken and “amiable” senior leader, Laxman, 67, was appointed the national president of the OBC Morcha in September 2020. Laxman is considered crucial to BJP hopes of drawing OBC voters in the forthcoming elections.

Also a former ABVP leader, Laxman is a two-time MLA from Musheerabad in Hyderabad (1999-2004) and (2014-18). He had been the state president between 2016-20. During his tenure, the party won four MP seats — Secunderabad, Karimnagar, Nizamabad, and Adilabad — in 2019.

In July 2022, he was nominated to the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh.

He had sparked outrage in 2019 when he had questioned the Telangana government’s decision to appoint tennis player Sania Mirza as the state’s brand ambassador. Laxman had said Mirza was not a “resprentative of India” as she was married to Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik.