HYDERABAD: DK Aruna, who was confined to Mahbubnagar district all this while, has become a national leader overnight, with BJP chief JP Nadda appointing her as vice-president of the saffron party.
It is obvious that he wants to use her influence to get the Reddy community, which is backing the TRS and, to some extent, the Congress, on the BJP’s side.
The Telangana Assembly has the highest number of Reddys, about 40, which shows how much dominance the community has across the State. Of them, at the time of the 2018 election, 31 were from the TRS and the remaining from the Congress.
Plan of action
In an interview with this correspondent, Aruna shared her ideas of shifting all her supporters in the Congress into the BJP as she believes the saffron party has brighter prospects of coming to power in the next Assembly election. Her immediate plan of action is to wash TRS’ dirty linen in public, particularly on how anti-farmer it is contrary to the image that it has built for itself.
“The TRS government is snatching land from farmers without giving them proper compensation. See for yourself, how the farmers in Rangareddy are agitated over their land being usurped for Pharma City. In other districts too, the government is forcibly taking land from farmers, without compensating them adequately, for the construction of Rythu Vedikas and Vaikunta Dhamams,” she said. “I am not saying these are not necessary, but before you take their land, think of the farmer and if you are paying him enough,” the leader said.
Aruna had polled a massive 3.33 lakh votes in Mahbubnagar during the Lok Sabha election on a BJP ticket and ended up as a runner-up. Now, she is confident that those who are left out in the Congress would come to the BJP. “In fact, I would have won the election but many of my supporters were not aware that I was contesting on a BJP ticket,” she said. She argued that she still held sway on Congress voters not only in Mahbubnagar but also in other parts of Telangana because she had been steadfastly fighting for their interests.
“My elevation as vice-president comes with great responsibility and I will have to rise to the occasion. My main area of activity would be Telangana only but if the party appoints me as in-charge of another State, I will gladly accept the responsibility,” she said and pointed out that her promotion in the party’s ranks has vindicated her leadership qualities.
“Though I joined the party just ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, I have been made the vice-president. This shows that the party gives importance to one’s ability to lead rather than where one comes from,” she said, implying that one need not necessarily be from the RSS stock to make a cut to an important position in the party.
‘Reddy MLAs disillusioned’
Aruna believes that most of the Reddy MLAs in the TRS are disillusioned with Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao turning into another Hitler. “As the TRS is the ruling party and there is till time for elections, many MLAs, not only from the Reddy community but also others, are staying put, biting the bullet. If they come out now, they would not get any work sanctioned in their constituencies. The State government has already given instructions to the officials not to entertain such leaders’ requests,” Aruna said.She pointed out that as the State moved closer to the election, the exodus would begin. This will happen as there is a strong anti-incumbency wave building up against the TRS government, she said.
Visits Chilkur Balaji temple
BJP vice-president DK Aruna visited the Chilkur Balaji temple on Sunday and took the blessings of Dr MV Soundararajan. The latter blessed her with success and requested her to support the deity rights movement of Chilkur Balaji.