BJP's jumbo expansion of Telangana executive panel

HYDERABAD: In what is an indication of Bandi Sanjay's continuation as BJP state chief, the party state executive committee was massively expanded from 80 to 205 members. According to insiders, the composition had a clear stamp of Bandi Sanjay who took into account the recommendations of other leaders too.
The appointment of the jumbo team comes ahead of Union home minister Amit Shah's visit to Khammam on June 15 and is seen as a move to appease newcomers and old-timers who had previously complained that they had no position in the party.
The expanded state executive committee includes ex-ministers, ex-MPs, ex-MLCs, ex-zilla parishad chairmans, ex-mayors and retired IAS/IPS officers as special invitees. In the present expansion, 125 new regular members were added to the team. These are mostly district leaders who were nominated by the district in-charge and other key leaders.
"Many have been complaining for a long time that despite working hard in the field, they don't get included in basic protocol as BJP leaders. This would reenergise them to work hard in election year," a senior leader with privy to the developments said.
The massive team expansion is significant in that the team had more than 400 members when Sanjay's predecessor K Laxman was president. But subsequently the high command did not give consent to a jumbo team after Sanjay took over as party president.
According to reliable sources, the team expansion was not without internal friction.
"In the regular process, the state president usually recommends names on his own or in consultation with other leaders. The list is sent to Delhi for a routine nod and it is released. But this time some senior newcomers even directly sent the names of their followers to Delhi, which is new to the party," a source said.
However, it is not known how many such names were accommodated in this team. But various criteria such as caste, regional equations, past work etc., were taken into account before the list was released, sources said.
According to sources, the BJP's 19 teams including kisan cell, intellectuals cell and legal cell will also be expanded soon. With more appointments expected, sources said that nearly every other leader will hold some position in the state.