HYDERABAD: Reports from the BJP national executive committee meeting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised Bandi Sanjay’s Praja Sangrama Yatra and his speeches, even going to the extent of comparing the latter with former vice-president M Venkaiah Naidu has left the Eatala camp disappointed.
The Eatala camp had been eagerly waiting for signals from the NEC meeting regarding a change of leadership in the State unit of the party. For about a month now, speculations were rife that the Union Cabinet would be expanded and the present BJP State president would be called to do duties at the Centre, and replace him with Eatala Rajender.
However, Modi’s praise for Sanjay has more or less made it clear that this would not be happening in the near future. Sources said that the BJP high command has not focused on changing the leadership in the State, for now. They say that the topic might come up for discussion by the end of the month or mid-February.
BJP leaders say that there is little likelihood of the State leadership being changed due to the fact that with just about 9 months to go for elections, doing so would create unnecessary friction within the party.
There is also talk that if there is indeed a Cabinet expansion, the BJP high command may pick MPs like Dharmapuri Arvind and Soyam Bapu Rao to represent the State.