Rajgopal upset, Munugode leaders angry at being kept in the dark on joinings

HYDERABAD: The admission of leaders from other political parties from Munugode constituency into the BJP, apparently without the knowledge of former MLA Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy, and long-time local party leaders, on Wednesday resulted in a heated discussion at a meeting chaired by state BJP president Bandi Sanjay Kumar.

In a sign that not everything is peaceful within the party, and that some leaders were upset at what they called “unilateral decisions by Etala Rajendar,” who heads the BJP’s committee on joinings from other parties, Rajgopal Reddy and other BJP leaders from Munugode, particularly from Choutuppal mandal, are learnt to have lost their cool at the meeting Sanjay held to plan for the August 21 public meeting featuring Union minister Amit Shah.

These leaders are learnt to have made it clear that it was not acceptable that they are kept in the dark as to who is being admitted into the party by Rajendar. While Rajgopal Reddy made his displeasure very clear, it is learnt that party leaders from Choutuppal were very upset and questioned their own relevance in the BJP after having served the party for three decades or more.

Sanjay had to work hard to pacify the upset leaders, who were initially not willing to listen to any arguments, and insisted that leaders with criminal records and cases against them were being admitted into the BJP without even as much as a note of information being shared with them about who is being invited into the party, sources said.

It is learnt that Sanjay had to practically plead with the upset leaders not to let the issue get out of hand and for now, focus on the upcoming public meeting at Munugode, and assure the upset leaders that these issues could be looked into and required action taken after the public meeting.