Hyderabad: The new Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Telangana president is likely to be announced within a week as the internal election for it is all set to be held on July 1. Votes are likely to be cast on the same day and the result could also be out on the same day, but the final decision could take a day or two more. The decision for a new state head has been pending for about a year.
Many names are circulating and the strong contenders for the Telangana BJP president are believed to be former MLC Ram Chander Rao, Malkajgiri MP Eatala Rajender, Nizamabad MP D Arvind and Union minister and ex-Telangana president Bandi Sanjay Kumar.
“It was a matter of the other state president elections also being elected simultaneously. The national president will be decided in July, and this will be done before that. There were many claimants to the post and all of them can throw in their hats. The district presidents will vote along with a council who will vote and decide. It won’t be a ballot but more like a opinion that will be taken,” said a senior BJP leader from Hyderabad.
The decision to choose a new BJP president in Telangana rests solely on the high command of the party, said insiders however. “Tomorrow there can be only one nomination. So far it has not been decided but whoever the central high command chooses will get a call to throw in their hat. So everyone is waiting to see who will get a call,” said another BJP senior functionary who did not want to be quoted.
Among all of the candidates, Eatala Rajender has emerged a strong contender interestingly. A former BRS MLA and minister, he was sacked by the party when it was in power in 2021 over allegations of corruption. He later joined the BJP and in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections managed to win the Malkajgiri MP seat.
Eatala emerges as strong name for BJP Telangana president
“Eatala’s candidature is certainly strong, if you look at how his trajectory has been in Telangana,” said the BJP leader from Hyderabad.
The development is important as it will set the tone for the party’s way forward in Telangana, especially after its impressive win in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections this year. The BJP here managed to win 8 out of the 17 Parliamentary seats in Telangana, giving the ruling Congress and the main opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) a rude shock, as the incumbent government expected to win more seats.
The BJP in Telangana managed to win eight MLA constituencies in the 2023 Assembly polls, and also increased its vote share. However, it made massive gains by taking about 39% of the vote share in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Interestingly, even though analysts expected the BJP to grow and slowly eat into the main opposition space, which the BRS is holding onto in spite of its recent downward political trajectory, the political landscape still is majorly in a Congress versus BRS position.
