BJP split in open after Arvind attack on Bandi Sanjay

HYDERABAD: Apparent differences, and indications that unity among senior leaders in the party is still a very elusive commodity, were once again the topic of the day in the BJP in Telangana following comments by the party’s Nizamabad MP Dharmapuri Arvind on party state president Bandi Sanjay Kumar.

That serious trust issues and differences among senior leaders have more or less become a staple in the state BJP is no secret. Several leaders were left wondering about what exactly was happening within the state unit’s top brass.

Arvind, talking to media persons in Delhi on Sunday, had said that Sanjay should not have made intemperate comments against BRS MLC K. Kavitha on the issue of her facing possible charges in the Delhi liquor scam. He had said, "if not arrest her, will the ED kiss her."

While Arvind said it was for Sanjay to take back his words on Kavitha, what appeared to have caught several party leaders unawares was his comment on how the party president’s post is not one of wielding power but is one whose task is coordination.

At one level, there is anxiety that the Assembly elections are creeping upon them, with just about eight months left to face the polls.

Some party sources said that Sanjay, in some ways, had been shooting first and not even asking later and expressed worry that some of his previous comments on various issues could come back to haunt the party’s state unit.

“This is one chance for the BJP to win and the question is whether the party is willing to bet on him facing internal dissension and distrust,” a party source said.

Meanwhile, Arvind’s comments found support from the BJP’s former national executive member Shekhar Rao Perala, who on his Facebook page, said what Arvind said, should have been in fact, talked about by the likes of senior party leaders like G. Kishan Reddy or Dr K. Laxman.

He further said he was ready to prove Sanjay’s “my way or the highway attitude, insulting long-time party workers and leaders, financial selfishness, and a use and throw approach.”

The state BJP, right now, he said, was taking three steps forward and six steps backward.

However, party general secretary and state affairs in-charge Tarun Chugh dismissed any talk of dissension or change of leadership. He said “everything will be taken care of. The party is united and on the right track for a victory in the next Assembly elections.”