The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP has appointed 48-year-old Bandi Sanjay Kumar, MP from Karimnagar as the president of Telangana State unit, BJP national president on Wednesday sent an official communication to this effect. Sanjay will be replacing Dr K Laxman.
Sanjay Kumar, who had been active in RSS and ABVP, was elected to the Lok Sabha in the 2019 elections from the Karimnagar constituency
His elevation as state BJP president comes at a time when the party is keen on strengthening its base in Telangana. The party expects Sanjay’s appointment as Telangana State BJP president to create stir some enthusiasm among the cardre.
After the Congress weakened in Telangana and the lack of opposition, the BJP sees itself as an alternative to the Telangana Rashtra Samithi. This new found enthusiasm in the state BJP was largely after TRS president and Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao’s daughter K Kavitha suffered a defeat in Nizamabad at the hands of the BJP’s D Arvind. The BJP also wrested the Adilabad and Karimnagar seats from the TRS. In Karimnagar, Bandi Sanjay Kumar defeated TRS senior leader Vinod Kumar by a huge margin of 89,508 votes.
Further, after the Congress and TDP weakening in Telangana, several leaders from the two parties have joined the BJP. In a shot in the arm of BJP, senior Congress leader and former minister in Telangana D K Aruna chose the BJP over the ruling TRS when most of the dejected Congress leaders titled towards TRS. Senior Congress leader C Damodar Rajanarasimha’s wife Padmini Reddy too joined the BJP in Telangana. Former ministers in undivided Andhra Pradesh – E Peddi Reddy and Boda Janardhan and former MP Suresh Reddy were some of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leaders who joined the BJP. State Congress leaders M Shashidhar Reddy, son of former chief minister Marri Chenna Reddy and the party’s minority cell leader Sheik Rahmatullah also joined the BJP.
It remains to be seen if the newly appointed State BJP president will be able to infuse new vigour in the party and turn the fortunes of the saffron party in Telangana.
