Hyderabad: Etela Rajender’s honeymoon in the Bharatiya Janata Party seems to have ended in less than two weeks.
A poster boy on November 2, when the counting took place for the Huzurabad bypolls and results were announced, when BJP’s newfound hope triumphed against all odds and a belligerently orchestrated TRS campaign, the former health minister is finding himself quickly on the wrong side of his new party.
Senior leaders in the party are upset with the statement of Etela Rajender that his victory margin would have been greater had he contested as an independent.
“It is one thing for the election narrative to be that it was a face-off between Etela Rajender and his former boss, K. Chandrashekar Rao. But post his win, for him to try to rundown the contribution of the BJP shows his mean facet, one without gratitude. He, and even some of his family members, might have been in prison by now but for us,” said an angry BJP leader.
Another leader, who had worked for weeks in the constituency and played a key role in his joining the party, said, “in every speech, he tries to make it about himself. His one-upmanship is a reflection of the regional party culture. In his thanksgiving speech post the win, he had to be prompted to thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi, home minister Amit Shah or party national president J. P. Nadda. He did not even proactively thank all leaders and cadres who worked tirelessly for his win.”
If statements like “I would have won with a bigger margin without the BJP, had I contested as an independent” irked party leaders, the claims of his followers that he would be the chief ministerial face of the party for the next elections, which surfaced and went viral on social media, but which Mr Rajender did not disown, has the saffron party, ebullient over the rise of the lotus, furious with the man who scripted the latest victory.
“When a party grows quickly because the public mood is swinging in its favour, like the BJP in Telangana, where the mood of anti-incumbency against the leaders of KCR is stridently galloping, and given the failure of the Congress to play an effective role in opposition, new leaders will join from other parties. We must consider it the newbie or trainee phase. They will soon learn the culture of the party,” said Raja Singh, the first MLA of the party in the current Assembly.
Raja Singh, the floor leader of the party since the 2018 as a sole member, refused to be drawn into a controversy by commenting on conjectures of Etela Rajender’s supporters that the newest MLA of the party would be replacing him. “It is going to be the decision of the party senior leadership,” he said.
Not only are Etala fans claiming that he would be made floor leader, but also is trying to create the optics that he would eventually be elevated to being the steward to lead the party in its electoral armageddon against the TRS in 2023 as the Chief Ministerial face.
“If Etela thinks that instead of trying to get acclamatised to the BJP culture and instead thrust his ideas on the party on such policy issues, especially with such amateurish and churlish attempts of foisting a narrative on social media, he is mistaken. Several senior leaders are already extremely angry with him,” said a senior party leader, and a former legislator, who has been with the party for a long time.
Not surprisingly, the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi is enjoying the schadenfreude moment. Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, Krishank Manne, TRS leader, said, “It is not a surprise to anyone that it is happening. Etela Rajender has always been that kind of person, who never understands what adhering to a party’s collective and democratic process is concerned. He routinely cries foul, plays the victim card and tries to arm-twist the party organisation into submitting to his ambition of being the alpha male. The BJP will soon realise they have a big liability to deal with on their hands.”
The national party has its limitations about how it treats a major OBC leader, with a strong background of having struggled for the statehood movement, and represents the numerically powerful Mudiraj community but if Etela wanted to win hearts in the BJP after his win, he has surely gotten off to the worst possible starts.
