HYDERABAD: With Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s oath-taking ceremony scheduled on Saturday, the BJP has begun parleys for Cabinet berths from two Telugu states. The Union Cabinet had only one representation from two Telugu states in the last five years in the form of G. Kishan Reddy.
The party leadership wants to maintain a fine balance between newcomers and old-timers when it selects ministers from the eight BJP MPs in the state. The talk is that Telangana would get two Cabinet berths.
Both party general secretary Bandi Sanjay Kumar, who is seen to have fuelled the BJP’s rise in Telangana, and Kishan Reddy, have a good chance to find berths in the Union Cabinet. Sources, however, said the party use the services of one of them for organisational work.
Speculation is that Kishan Reddy would be chosen for the Cabinet in view of his experience as a Union minister and party head in Telangana.
The party’s Malakajgiri MP-elect and strong BC leader Etala Rajendar appears to be the obvious choice as he got accolades from Modi and senior leaders Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh and Hardeep Singh Puri during the election campaign. He is seen to be a strong voice on state issues and politics and the support from BC groups is an added advantage.
If Kishan Reddy is accommodated in the Cabinet, there will be a change of guard in the party’s state leadership. As Telangana accounts for 52 per cent BC population, the party may opt for a BC leader and a prominent separate Telangana face as state chief, in which case Rajendar could fit the bill.
However, observers said Rajendar had failed to make a big impact as chairman of the party committee to attract leaders from other parties. No known leader from other parties joined the BJP when he headed the committee. These observes said that Sanjay enjoyed state-wide popularity and could return as state party head.
Other probables for the Union Cabinet include D.K. Aruna, who trounced the Congress in Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy’s home district Mahbubnagar and Nizamabad MP-elect Dharmapuri Arvind. Arvind had trounced BRS chief K. Chandrashekar Rao’s daughter K. Kavitha in 2019.
As far as Andhra Pradesh is concerned, the BJP seems clear in its choice of picking up party state unit president Daggubati Purandeswari, elected from Rajahmundry. She also served as Union minister in the UPA government.
The other likely choice is C.M. Ramesh, elected from Anakapalle. He served as a member of the Public Accounts Committee and Rajya Sabha member for two terms.
