With the electoral fortune of the Telangana BJP in doldrums there was a speculation that Reddy will return to Congress after Rahul Gandhi’s call to former Congress leaders.
Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy (Photo: Twitter)
Another recent entrant to the Telangana BJP, Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy, was on Wednesday appointed member of national executive committee, apparently to prevent him from jumping ship.
Reddy had joined the BJP last year after resigning as Congress MLA from the Munugode Assembly constituency in Nalgonda.
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With the electoral fortune of the Telangana BJP in doldrums there was a speculation that Reddy will return to Congress after Rahul Gandhi gave a call to all those who left the party to return to the fold at a public rally at Khammam last Sunday.
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Reddy’s elder brother and Bhuvangiri MP, Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, is still in Congress paving the way for his return to the party. Yesterday, apart from replacing Bandi Sanjay Kumar with G Kishan Reddy as state party chief, the BJP appointed another key leader who came from the BRS, Etela Rajender as chairman of the election management committee to oversee Assembly elections in Telangana.
Rajgopal Reddy had fought the bypoll as a BJP candidate but lost to BRS candidate by 10,000 votes after the ruling party managed to secure the votes that are still considerable in areas like Nalgonda and Khammam. During elections, it was alleged that Reddy had bagged a key mining contract in Jharkhand which prompted him to jump ship.
Meanwhile, even with the change in post of state chief things are not looking up for the BJP in Telangana. There was quite an outpouring of support for outgoing party chief Bandi Sanjay including an attempted suicide by a party worker.
A leaked audio clip purportedly of BJP MLA M Raghunandan Rao revealed the resentment of the MLA who wondered why he was not considered for the state party president’s post instead G Kishan Reddy who is said to be not very keen for the post.
Rao also pointed out that he won almost singlehandedly and if the BJP failed to appreciate him, then other alternatives were available.
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