Southern Lights | With two ministers from Telangana in Cabinet, the BJP's focus on the state
The BJP's story in Telangana is far beyond the eight seats it won. The party’s vote share increased from 19.45% in 2019 to 35.08% this year.
In a first-ever move, granting premium portfolios in the cabinet and the party to senior members G Kishan Reddy and Bandi Sanjay from Telangana, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has signalled its intent to stabilise its position in the state. Reddy, minister for coal and mines, and Sanjay, minister of state for home affairs, have been with the party since its formative years, evolving from student leaders to influential ones who have helped the BJP score impressive victories in successive elections. In addition, Reddy has also been named in charge of Jammu and Kashmir and has been asked to oversee the state election.
Even though the two are considered war horses of the ideological Hindutva-supporting organisations — the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad — the posts offered to them surprised many within the party. Senior party leaders said there was more than one reason for the 50-something ministers to be given important portfolios.
“There were multiple signals that the party wanted to send out by picking Kishan Reddy and Bandi Sanjay of the eight members who won their parliamentary constituencies. First, allegiance to the party and ideological affiliation trumps electoral victories. Second, performance is key to securing berths or being rewarded. Finally, Telangana is important to the BJP, and that state-specific promises made would be kept,” said a senior functionary of the BJP who did not choose to be named. The functionary was in charge previously of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and was party to many decisions taken in Telangana.
Sanjay took on former Telangana chief minister and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) supremo K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) during the assembly and Lok Sabha polls and targetted the regional party for the losses incurred by the state because of the faulty construction in the Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project besides incomplete implementation of schemes announced to farmers and Dalits. Sanjay fought from Karimnagar and campaigned all across northern Telangana where the BJP won four out of five seats.
Considered an organisation man, Sanjay’s skills in managing and motivating cadre earned him the notice and recognition of both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah. For his crowd-pulling abilities and packing punches in his speeches, Sanjay perhaps has collected a bagful of pats and praises from the BJP's top guns. Additionally, Shah is said to have picked Sanjay to groom him on handling internal security matters.
As for Kishan Reddy, who has been with the party since its formation in 1980, his appointment as minister for coal and mines was seen as more than just a reward for the party president who guided the party to victory and equalled the score with the ruling Congress party in the state. The return to profitability of the Singareni Collieries Company Limited has been a key promise made by visiting national BJP leaders and Reddy’s ascension to the ministry is seen as a step in this direction.
Reddy was brought in to head the party in Telangana just a few months before the state election held in November. Amid intraparty rumblings, he ensured problems within the party were quelled effectively. He shepherded the party to win the highest number of seats in both the assembly and parliamentary elections.
Although very little is known about Reddy's contribution to J&K, he was instrumental in all major discussions when Article 370 was revoked, party leaders said. Reddy is also a close confidant of Ram Madhav and Muralidhar Rao - both Telugus who were in charge of J&K previously. He is said to have organised and conducted multiple events through the platform called the World Youth Council Against Terrorism (WYACT). He also led the Seema Suraksha Jagran Yatra where he undertook a 45-day, 1200-km padayatra across eight border states in the past to educate people living in the border villagers on cross-border terrorism.
“The importance given to these two ministers is an answer to the BJP’s critics who have often commented that the party does not take sufficient interest in southern India. It is a sign of visible authority and it is also an acknowledgement that it is the South that has brought the BJP back to power,” said Pentapati Pulla Rao, a Hyderabad-based political analyst.
The BJP's story in Telangana is far beyond the eight seats it won. In seven other seats, it came a close second indicating that it was successful in not just transferring the BRS' vote share to itself, but obliterating the regional party from the 2024 election. However, it is the vote share that the BJP's top leadership should be enthused about — from 19.45% in 2019, the party's vote share in the state has risen to 35.08%.
With 15 out of 17 tickets given to candidates who transitioned from other parties, its strategy of being pragmatic about seat selection proved to work in its favour. Party sources said that nearly 18 affiliates of the BJP and RSS worked in the state since 2019 to ensure a respectable result in last year's assembly elections and the just-concluded general elections.
“After Karnataka, this is the state that the BJP is looking to stabilise given the organisation base and support we have in Telangana. We can see concerted efforts in the coming years by the party to win the panchayat and municipal elections and aim for greater penetration before the next round of assembly polls come up,” the senior BJP leader quoted above said.
A state-party rejig is underway and many organisational changes are being implemented to strengthen the party for the municipal elections next year. The BJP all-India internal election that will commence after June 30, when party president JP Nadda’s term will come to an end, could also herald a change in guard in Telangana when Kishan Reddy is expected to be relieved.
Deepika Amirapu is a freelance journalist based in Hyderabad. Each week, Southern Lights examines the big story from one of the five states of South India.
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