Civic Polls: BJP a Divided House

Karimnagar:The civil war within the BJP has intensified as disgruntled senior loyalists levelled sensational cash-for-tickets allegations against the local leadership in Jagtial district on Tuesday.

The rebellion, which has pitted the original BJP cadre against the recent entrants, has cast a shadow over the party’s integrity days before the municipal polls. At the center of the storm are local BJP leaders Bhoga Shravani and her husband Praveen.

In a series of heated protests, senior party workers, led by the son of veteran leader ACS Raju (Rajanna) alleged that the party’s municipal poll candidacy tickets were being sold for as high as Rs 5 lakh each.

The protesters complained that dedicated activists who have served the party for decades were being systematically sidelined in favour of wealthy newcomers who were willing to pay for their candidacy.

The rebellion has also leapt up to the doorstep of Nizamabad MP Dharmapuri Aravind. The dissenting faction accused the MP of not only overseeing the questionable ticket distribution but also of maintaining a secret internal understanding with the ruling Congress party.

Protesters alleged that Aravind was intentionally weakening the Jagtial BJP from within to benefit Congress candidates. The charge sent shockwaves through the local saffron cadre.

The rhetoric has turned aggressive, with senior leaders warning that they would not tolerate a commercialization of the party. Real BJP workers would not leave Shravani, Praveen, or MP Arvind for this betrayal, the dissident group stated.

They have vowed to launch a purification movement from Jagtial, threatening to actively work for the defeat of the current leadership's hand-picked candidates, if only to “save the party’s ideology.”

With the cadre now divided into Originalists and Newcomers, the BJP’s campaign in Jagtial is in disarray. Political analysts suggest that these public allegations of corruption and the Congress -link theory have handed a significant advantage to the BRS and the official Congress candidates.

Unless the state leadership intervenes to address the `5 lakh bribery allegations and the suspicion surrounding the MP’s role, the party faces the threat of a total washout in the municipal polls.