(D Nagarjuna)
In a veiled reference, Bandi Sanjay exhorted party workers not to rush to Delhi like how they did to complain against him but rather allow Kishen Reddy to function smoothly on the occasion of the latter taking charge as the new President of BJP.
Killing two birds in one shot is a common phrase often used in our routine conversations. Is BJP diluting Kishen Reddy politically after getting inputs that he is becoming a threat to someone more powerful than him in Delhi?
A similar situation was witnessed when Venkaiah Naidu was moved upwards and outwards, putting an end to his political career. Many insiders themselves say that he was given a constitutional post so that he stays mum and is not a threat to someone bigger than him in the BJP hierarchy. Venkaiah Naidu is well known for his knowledge, proficiency in three languages, and oratorial skills which might have proved as nemesis for those within the party who feared his political ascendancy.
After retiring as Vice-President, he gradually petered out and is now spending a retired, albeit peaceful life, perhaps penning his biography and tending his farmhouse. Likewise, Kishen Reddy was stripped of their Home portfolio and appointed as Independent NE and tourism Minister neither of which he is showing any interest in.
His staple food today is in Telangana politics and his recent induction as its state president is like the High Command targetting one bird and the second one in the removal of another bird Bandi from the same post. Kishen Reddy is now unable to handle his ministry and Telangana too giving a clear indication that he may not be given a seat to contest either from Assembly or LS.
Slowly but surely, he seems to be on the verge of exit from BJP which has found in him a very big threat internally because he is educated, charismatic, and a vote-getter too, besides being an influential leader within the party communicating with ease in English, Hindi and Telugu like his Andhra counterpart Venkaiah Naidu. Knowing pretty well that BJP can only be a runner-up in the ensuing Assembly elections, he has been appointed as president of the state party so that based on the outcome, it is easy to edge him out on the grounds of poor performance.
This is how BJP operates with those who have been loyal for decades welcomes all corrupt leaders of other parties into their fold and washes them clean and if necessary groom them with ministry too. Glaring examples are Scindia and tacit support to Ajit Pawar. This is despite the party boasting of a disciplined cadre with no dissension and abject surrender to the two or three bosses one of whom is a permanent resident of Nagpur.
At the end of the day, the toiling grassroots party workers do all the dirty work at the behest of their bosses and get badly treated and sidelined when rewards are given to backdoors and selfish entrants into the party. If this continues, BJP will have bigger enemies from the inside like how Indira once said that only Congress can defeat Congress and likewise there may be no need for any outsiders to defeat BJP in the ensuing state and LS elections. Needless to say, BJP learned most of such lessons from INC which had to pay a heavy price starting in 2014 and is yet to recover to cross double digit number of MPs in LS since two terms. (The views expressed by the author are his personal and not of the website)
