The Telangana BJP continues to be dogged by intra-party conflict ahead of elections as its Nizamabad MP Arvind Dharmapuri is facing protests from his own party leaders and workers who accuse him of acting arbitrarily.

On Monday, BJP leaders and workers from Armoor, Bodhan and Balkonda laid siege to the BJP office to protest against Arvind Dharmapuri. Holding aloft placards reading “Save Nizamabad BJP” they raised slogans of “Arvind down… down…” voicing their resentment over the unilateral decision of the MP to change the party presidents of 13 mandals under the Nizamabad constituency.

The BJP MP had tweeted about the changes. However, the protesters alleged that he had appointed his own followers for the post of president, removing those who had been loyal to the party for years without citing a valid reason. The protesters said that they were ready to take the protests to New Delhi.

Arvind Dharmapuri had defeated sitting Nizamabad MP Kalvakuntla Kavitha in the Lok Sabha elections of 2019. His father D Srinivas had been a prominent Congress leader who had switched to the BRS. Arvind had no inclination to join the BJP but had appeared in Nizamabad just months before the elections and turned out to be a giant killer but defeating the chief minister’s daughter Kavitha cashing in on the resentment of the turmeric farmers who were demanding a turmeric board in the area.

Kavitha has already indicated that she would be contesting from the same seat this time. The BRS is also highlighting that the MP, despite his assurance on stamp paper, failed to set up the turmeric board in Nizamabad. At this juncture, the dissidence in the party does not augur well for Arvind Dharmapuri.

Moreover, this is not the first time the MP faced flak although he had said that the decision to change mandal presidents were taken by the district leadership. Only last Wednesday, the protesters had held a rally in front of the headquarters of Telangana BJP in Nampally against Arvind Dharmapuri. But the new state president G Kishan Reddy had chided them for resorting to protests and told them to approach the party leadership with their grievances.

Apparently, most of the protesters are loyal to former state BJP president Bandi Sanjay Kumar who is also MP from the adjacent Karimnagar. Recently, Bandi Sanjay was elevated to the post of national general secretary to end the rift within the party before Assembly elections in the state in December and Lok Sabha elections next year.