MAHABUBNAGAR: The resignation of BJP district president and former MLA Erra Sekhar on Sunday has become a hot topic in local political circles, as it has brought forth first signs of an internal rift in the saffron fold.
Though the BJP leader withdrew his resignation hours after the declaration, there are rumours that Sekhar had decided to leave BJP after facing a lot of discrimination from the party leadership.
Hours after announcing his resignation on Sunday, Sekhar withdrew the move after BJP State president Bandi Sanjay Kumar visited the former at his residence and pacified him.
However, it looks as if the rift between Sekhar and the party leadership is a bit more than what could be resolved by Bandi’s single visit. When Express spoke to a few sources in the saffron party, they mentioned that Sekhar was peeved at the treatment meted out to him by the party State leadership during the announcement of the new district committee, when the name of Sekhar alone was announced. The task to find the remaining district committee members fell on him.
A section of the party is of the view that the State leadership is deliberately burdening Sekhar. It is learnt that a few district BJP leaders had also insulted Sekhar during the Bandi’s Mahbubnagar tour. Sekhar was not allowed to hold a media meet to reveal the details of the party chief ’s tour.
However, Sekhar was insulted yet again, at the residence of former MP, AP Jithender Reddy, when he was forced to sit in the last row during a breakfast meeting. Political analysts say that Bandi swung into action, soon after learning about Sekhar’s decision, as the latter belongs to the Mudiraj community, a strong votebank, and that it would adversely affect the BJP.