A Big Jolt To BJP Bigwigs In Telangana

While the election results in Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan will bring huge cheer to the BJP cadre all over the country as the party fared exceedingly well in the assembly polls with a decisive margin over the Congress, the performance in Telangana state might evoke a mixed response because it is likely to be restricted to below ten seats. However, it should be noted that the party improved its tally very well.

Keeping aside the performance of the party, the biggest shock is that four prominent leaders in Telangana State are going to face an embarrassing defeat in these elections. Former BJP state president Bandi Sanjay, former MP Dharmapuri Aravind, and former MLAs Raghunandan Rao and Etela Rajender are the notable leaders of the BJP who failed to win the people’s mandate this year.

Surprisingly BJP, which won only a single assembly seat in the 2018 elections, is going to improve its seat count by securing close to 8-10 seats in this election. But, the bigwigs who are expected to enter the assembly from their respective constituencies failed to make an impact.

What is more shocking is that Etela Rajender, who won the By-election in 2021 after ditching TRS and joining BJP, is losing in both places, Huzurabad and Gajwel. Dubbaka sitting MLA Raghunandan Rao also received a severe drubbing in these elections which is very much unexpected after his victory in bypolls. Former MP Dharmapuri Aravind’s decision to contest as MLA also backfired as he is set to lose in Koratla segment.

Bandi Sanjay, who successfully led the party to a strong victory in many segments in GHMC elections, also saw a massive defeat in these elections from Karimnagar constituency.

How the party’s high command reacts to the shocking defeat of all these top-tier leaders remains to be seen.