Bandi bats away leadership change reports, says he will follow party instructions

HYDERABAD: Telangana BJP president Bandi Sanjay Kumar on Saturday declared that he will abide by any decision of the party with respect to the responsibilities he is given, and added that “I am a loyal party soldier, a karyakarta who works hard for the party.”

“If the BJP national leadership says work for the party, I will; if it tells me to sit at home, I will,” Sanjay said.

Chatting with reporters at the BJP state headquarters late on Saturday, Sanjay said there was no talk of any change in party positions and that this was mere propaganda by some to create confusion in the BJP rank and file. “These efforts will not succeed,” he said.

The state BJP president said his party does not operate on the basis of leaks, and that he had no information on expansion of the Union cabinet. He was responding to a question if he was aware of the possibility that he was being considered for a position in the Union cabinet. “No one knows till the very last moment who gets to be in the Cabinet,” he said.

Sanjay said, “We created a favourable atmosphere for the BJP in the state. For us, the party is important. The BJP does not function based on who its leader is. The efforts and hard work of the BJP workers in Telangana will not go to waste. People are tired of Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao’s face and the goal of the party, and all of us in it is to come to power in the state, and people have decided to vote for the BJP in the next elections.”

He said that by making Union home minister Amit Shah address the June 15 meeting in Khammam, party leaders and cadre can influence changes and cause significant political realignments in the state.

He also took aim at the Congress saying that instead of fighting the BRS, it was trying to fight the BJP and the Chief Minister, by focusing his attack on Congress, is seeking to give it a boost as he is aware that it is the BJP that is the real challenge facing the BRS.

“We have three to four contenders seeking tickets in every Assembly constituency while Congress does not even have candidates in most constituencies,” he said.