HYDERABAD: After its third consecutive victory in the Haryana Assembly elections, the BJP national leadership is formulating strategies to woo BC communities in Telangana.
The BJP leadership is of the view that after the state government completes the caste census, BC communities in Telangana are likely to turn towards the Congress. To counter this, the BJP is drawing up strategies. Sources said that the BJP national leadership is going all out to convince BC Welfare Association national president R Krishnaiah, who recently resigned from the membership of both the YSR Congress and the Rajya Sabha, to join the saffron party. Krishnaiah has been fighting for the rights of BCs and highlighting the problems faced by the community for the past three decades.
Well-placed sources said that recently, Union Home Minister Amit Shah spoke to Krishnaiah. After this phone call, Krishnaiah has been holding meetings with his followers and representatives of various BC associations to take their opinion on his political future, especially with or without the BJP.
According to the grapevine in the BJP, the saffron party leadership had considered giving him the post of the National BC Commission chairman after he resigned from the Rajya Sabha. However, the National BC Commission chairman Hansraj Gangaram Ahir still has a year of his term remaining. Moreover, Ahir, a former Union minister, hails from Maharashtra, where Assembly elections are due this year. Hence the BJP leadership is of the opinion that it is politically not wise to replace him as BC Commission chairman at this point in time.
Sources said that after talks with Krishnaiah, the BJP national leadership is considering nominating him to the Rajya Sabha from Odisha. Of the 10 Rajya Sabha seats in Odisha, one is vacant due to the resignation of the BJD’s Sujeet Kumar, who switched parties to the BJP.
Rajya Sabha nomination from Odisha likely
Sources said that after talks with Krishnaiah, the BJP national leadership is considering nominating him to the Rajya Sabha from Odisha. Of the 10 Rajya Sabha seats in Odisha, one is vacant due to the resignation of BJD’s Sujeet Kumar, who switched parties to the BJP.