Nadda's new team disappoints Telugu states
By Newsmeter Network Published on 27 Sep 2020 7:48 AM GMT
Hyderabad: BJP national president J.P. Nadda, on September 26, 2020, announced a national executive committee comprising of 70 members.
However, Nadda's jumbo team came as a big disappointment to the BJP cadre and leaders in Telugu states.
Though Nadda included firebrand woman leader D.K. Aruna from Telangana, who left the Congress to join BJP prior to 2019 Lok Sabha polls and Daggubati Purandeswari from Andhra Pradesh, who also quit the Congress to join BJP in 2014, after the Congress was ousted out of power at the Centre in 2014 Lok Sabha polls, it did not bring much cheer to party cadre and leaders in the Telugu states.
This is because Nadda has not given much representation to leaders from the Telugu states in the new national executive committee.
Aruna was inducted into the BJP executive as one of the 12 national vice presidents, while Purandeswari was made one of the nine national general secretaries.
On one hand, the BJP national leadership claims that the BJP will emerge as an alternative to the TRS and come to power in Telangana in 2023 Assembly polls. It also claims that BJP will emerge as a major political force in Andhra Pradesh by 2024 Assembly polls. However, the composition of Nadda's committee gives no such indications with poor representation.
Worse still is BJP's big names in Telugu states, Ram Madhav (Andhra Pradesh) and P. Muralidhar Rao (Telangana) were dropped from the national executive committee. Both of them were the national general secretaries in the previous committee.
One more noted figure from Andhra to be dropped from the committee includes G.V.L. Narasimha Rao, who was the party's national official spokesperson.
The only silver lining was Dr K. Laxman, former BJP president of Telangana unit, getting OBC national Morcha president and Satya Kumar, hailing from AP and considered to be close to Vice President of India Venkaiah Naidu, finding a place among the 13 national secretaries.
Looking at the composition of Nadda's new team, one wonders how the BJP can expect to come to power in either of the Telugu states with this poor representation in the national executive. Party leaders and cadre in both the Telugu States raise questions about how BJP will grow in Telugu states when the party leaders from the southern states do not have due representation in the national committee.
