Bandi Sanjay, supporters upset over sacking as Telangana BJP chief

Hyderabad: BJP MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar is upset after he was removed as party’s Telangana unit president only a few months before the Assembly elections.

His removal came as a huge shock to him as only a few days ago BJP general secretary in charge for Telangana Tarun Chugh had ruled out a change in the leadership.

When Sanjay was summoned to Delhi on Tuesday and party president J. P. Nadda informed him of the party’s decision, he was heartbroken as he was confident of leading the party in the upcoming elections.

The MP was shocked over the decision as the top leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, had been praising him for his efforts to galvanise the party in the state.

Nadda, however, reportedly told him that he was being replaced keeping in view the party’s necessities.

The meeting at Nadda’s office at BJP headquarters lasted for about two hours.

Party general secretaries Tarun Chugh and Sunil Bansal were present.

Sanjay was so upset with the decision that he left the party headquarters through another door even as media persons were waiting to get his reaction.

A few minutes later, the party issued a statement that Union Minister G. Kishan Reddy has been appointed as the new state party president.

BJP MLA Eatala Rajender, who was among the leaders demanding Sanjay’s removal, was appointed chairman of the election management committee.

Sanjay later took to Twitter to declare that he was officially signing off as BJP state president.

He thanked the Prime Minister, Amit Shah, Nadda and other leaders for giving a common worker like him a big opportunity to serve as president of Telangana. “I hope I have lived up to your expectations,” he wrote.

Sanjay also thanked people of Telangana ‘who have welcomed me with open arms in every step during Praja Sangram Yatra’. “Some chapters in our lives have to close without closure,” the Karimnagar MP said.

He wrote that he was looking forward to working under Kishan Reddy’s leadership with renewed vigour.

Sanjay congratulated Kishan Reddy and Rajender through a tweet on Wednesday. “I hope that under your experienced and capable leadership, the party will become stronger and you will work hard to bring BJP to power in Telangana,” he said.

His term as state BJP president ended in March this year but with the central leadership’s blessings he continued on the post and it was expected that he will lead the party in the coming elections.

Sanjay’s removal as state BJP chief has left his supporters within the party in a big shock. They called it an unnecessary decision by the leadership in an election year.

Veteran Tollywood actress and former MP M Vijayashanti expressed her sadness over Sanjay’s sacking.

She said that Sanjay taught the party in the state ‘how to create fire with foot-steps’.

The actor hoped that the party’s central leadership would give him a much higher position. She requested the party’s central leadership to understand the emotions of his followers and take the right decision.

Angry over Sanjay’s removal, BJP’s Nalgonda town unit president M. Nageswara Rao resigned from his post.

In Khammam district, a supporter of Sanjay attempted suicide.