For the Telangana State BJP, which was exuding confidence of storming to power in 2019, the year 2018 has started on a wrong note.
Even as the BJP was hoping to attract some big names from the other parties during the forthcoming visit of the party president Amit Shah, things have gone in a reverse direction.
Party’s senior leader in Janagaon district and former MLA K Pratap Reddy has resigned from the primary membership of the BJP.
Speculations were also rife that another senior leader and former Minister Nagam Janardhan Reddy was also likely to follow the suit.
Pratap Reddy said he had visited villages of his district and consulted the people. “Accepting the advise of my supporters and followers I have resigned from the BJP”, he said. There are indications that he will soon join the ruling TRS. Earlier he was elected from Cheriyal constituency in the erstwhile Warangal district but later the constituency was merged in Janagaon constituency as part of the reorganisation of the Assembly constituencies.
While Janagaon constituency was now represented by M Yadgiri Reddy of TRS, the party was likely to replace him and give ticket to Pratap Reddy.
As far as Nagam Janardhan Reddy was concerned, though he was being wooed by the ruling TRS, he was likely to join the new party to be launched by the Telangana Joint Aciton Committee chief Kodandaram Reddy.
Nagam, who was one of the senior most leaders of the TDP had joined the BJP ahead of 2014 elections. But he was unhappy over the BJP leadership ignoring him.
He was included in the party’s national executive for one term but did not find place for the second term due to the party’s internal politics. Of late he was keeping a low profile and staying away from the party’s programs.
Nagam Janardhan Reddy, who as senior TDP man from Mahabubnagar district served in the Cabinet’s of NT Rama Rao and N Chandrababu Naidu, was trying to resurrect his sagging political career in a new avatar.
The saffron party in Telangana has suffered the setback at a time when all its efforts to woo the leaders of TRS and Congress by virtue of being in power at the Centre have proved futile till now.
According to the party sources Amit Shah was not happy and satisfied with the failure of the State leaders in carrying forward the “Mission 2019” which he had set during his earlier visit to the State.
The central leadership was hopeful that if after Karnataka the ground was fertile for the party in any State, it was Telangana.