Hyderabad: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) faced a significant setback in Telangana elections 2023 as its most prominent leaders in the state – Etala Rajendra, Bandi Sanjay, Dharmapuri Arvind, and Raghunanadan Rao – suffered surprising defeats.
Etala Rajendra, a seasoned politician, who contested from Telangana’s Huzurabad and Gajwel, faced defeat in both constituencies. Rajendra, previously associated with the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), had switched allegiance to the BJP. Although he secured victory in the bypolls for Huzurabad, this time around, he lost to BRS’s Kaushik Reddy Padi. His attempt to challenge former boss and outgoing CM K Chandrasekhar Rao in Gajwel was also unsuccessful.
Karimnagar MP and BJP’s national general secretary, Bandi Sanjay, contested from Karimnagar and faced defeat at the hands of BRS leader Gangula Kamalakar. Political observers see the removal of Sanjay from the post of party’s state chief right before the elections as one of the factors for the saffron party’s dismal performance in the elections.
However, the saffron party cadre disputed the Karimnagar verdict, alleging that state minister Gangula Kamalakar, who was in the fray from the constituency, used his authority to tamper with the votes. They said that EVMs were not functioning in two polling booths and demanded recounting of votes.
Another top BJP leader and Nizamabad MP Dharmapuri Aravind, who was in the fray from Koratla also faced defeat, losing to BRS candidate Kalvakuntla Sanjay.
Raghunandan Rao, who contested from Dubbak, also had to face the defeat by a considerable margin of 53,513 votes to BRS leader Kotta Prabhakar Reddy, with the latter securing 97,879 votes.
However, the victory of BJP candidate K Venkataramana Reddy from Kamareddy came as a surprise for many as he defeated the chiefs of both BRS and Congress, KCR and Revanth Reddy, from the constituency.
The unexpected outcomes in these pivotal contests have reshaped the post-election landscape in the state, making it even more difficult for the BJP to find its ground in Telangana.
