Are cracks starting to appear in Telangana unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)?
Dharmapuri Arvind, BJP MP from Telangana, made heads turn recently when he said it would be better if Telangana party chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar withdrew his remarks on Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLC K Kavitha. He had added that the party did not support the statements by Bandi Sanjay Kumar.
Arvind said: “Although the statement was a popular phrase in Telangana, when one uses such phrases, one needs to be careful and sensitive. Sanjay is an individual, Member of Parliament and the party’s state unit president. When you are a state unit president of a national party, the position is not of a power centre, but a coordination centre.”
Another BJP leader, Shekhar Rao Perala, supported Arvind’s statements and said the state chief’s undemocratic actions are pulling the BJP back. He wrote in a Facebook post: “President’s immature inappropriate words, affairs, dictatorship, and undemocratic antics are the reason for this situation in BJP.”
He added that although the saffron party does not have ‘use and throw’ culture, the BJP chief is promoting that. “At present the situation of our party is like three steps forward and six steps back. This is because of the leadership of the state. It’s self-inflicted. Even though central party is supporting us in large numbers, we are unable to use it,” he added.
When News18 reached out to him, he said that he stood by everything he wrote in the post.
THE REMARK
It may be recalled that during an event, Sanjay Kumar had asked whether the Enforcement Directorate (ED) would kiss the culprit instead of arresting her. K Kavitha is currently under investigation for her alleged role in the Delhi liquor scam. BRS workers took exception to the derogatory remarks and lodged cases in various police stations. Telangana Women’s Commission, too, issued a notice to him.
After the uproar, Sanjay Kumar’s office issued a statement saying: “The statement used by the BJP leader is a common phrase used in Telugu which means if someone does a crime, would you appreciate or punish them?”
RRR ROW
However, the explanation did not seem to sit well with even his own party members with Arvind saying that Sanjay Kumar needs to be more careful in choosing his words.
On Monday, too, the Telangana BJP president was trolled on social media for a previous take on the movie RRR. In 2020, he had threatened director Rajamouli with violence if scenes that showed revolutionary tribal hero — Komaram Bheem — wearing a skull cap were not deleted. After the leader congratulated the team for winning the Oscars for the best original song, he was trolled for his previous take.
Not so long ago, political circles were abuzz with rumours that the BJP was going to change its president in Telangana. Although Union tourism minister G Kishan Reddy put all speculation to rest in January by announcing there was no plan to change the state leadership, sources say the rivalry among party members to be the chief ministerial candidate continues.
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