Cabinet rejig: G Kishan Reddy among 4 appointed BJP state presidents

Amid speculation of a reshuffle in the Union Cabinet, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday named Union Minister G Kishan Reddy as the president of its Telangana state unit.

The BJP follows the principle of ‘one man one post’, which had Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah quit as the party’s national chiefs in 2014 and 2019, respectively, when they were inducted in the council of ministers.

BJP President JP Nadda also appointed Sunil Jakhar as the chief of its Punjab unit and Babulal Marandi for Jharkhand. In a statement, the party also announced former Union minister D Purandeswari as its new Andhra Pradesh president.

Telangana is scheduled for Assembly polls in November-December. The BJP brought in OBC leader Etela Rajender as its election management committee chairperson in Telangana. Reddy, currently the minister of state for tourism and culture, replaces Bandi Sanjay Kumar, who could be accommodated in the Union Council of Ministers.

The development highlights the BJP’s emphasis on setting its house in order in Telangana that was witnessing friction between Kumar and new entrants led by Rajender. By elevating Rajender, an influential regional leader, and removing Kumar, the party has tried to quell a putative rebellion in its ranks.

Among other changes, Jakhar, a former Punjab Congress president, replaces Ashwani Sharma while Marandi comes in the place of Deepak Prakash.

The changes suggest that the BJP has put its faith in the tribal leader Marandi, a former chief minister, to take on the rival alliance headed by Chief Minister Hemant Soren, also a tribal.

The rejig is significant in the primacy given to leaders who have joined the BJP from other parties. Jakhar and Rajender left the Congress and the BRS respectively to join the BJP. Purandeswari was in the Congress and a minister in the UPA government.

With the BJP not being traditionally strong in Telangana, Punjab, and Andhra Pradesh, its projection of these relative outsiders is unlikely to draw much opposition from its cadres and can help its expansion exercise, sources said.

 Union ministers meet Nadda 

A number of Union minis­ters, including Nirmala Sitharaman, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Bhupender Yadav and Kiren Rijiju, met BJP president J P Nadda on Tuesday amid a buzz of organisational and Union cabinet changes.

Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat met party general secretary (organis­ation) B L Santhosh, sources said while another minister S P S Baghel met Nadda.
 

There was no official word on what transpired in the meetings but it is believed that more leaders have met the central leaders in the last couple of days.