Before his stunning victory from Karimnagar within the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Bandi Sanjay Kumar was not a well-known identify outdoors the district. The BJP chief was a municipal corporator within the metropolis and had been making an attempt to take his political profession ahead.
He contested the 2014 and 2018 Telangana Assembly election outcomes however misplaced to the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS). In an encouraging signal, he completed second forward of the Congress in each the polls. But the resolute 50-year-old Telangana BJP chief hit the bottom working after the 2018 loss, mentioned celebration members near him, and began holding conferences with folks on the go within the district. His arduous work paid off and, using on a pro-Narendra Modi wave, Kumar defeated the TRS’s B Vinod within the basic elections. “I don’t wish to spend time in workplaces, or simply sitting someplace and speaking. I’m comfy when I’m amongst folks, listening to them and discussing their points,” mentioned Kumar.
Ahead of the state elections subsequent yr, and to protest towards the “TRS government’s failures”, Kumar launched a statewide Praja Sangram Yatra on August 28 final yr and accomplished the primary section on October 3. He began the “padayatra (foot march)” from Charminar in Hyderabad and walked 440 km, addressing 35 public conferences and a number of other small gatherings. In whole, he coated 19 Assembly and 6 parliamentary constituencies in eight districts, together with Hyderabad, Ranga Reddy, Vikarabad, Sangareddy, Medak, Kamareddy, Sircilla, and Siddipet.
He began the second section on April 14 from the Gadwal Assembly constituency amid an intense heatwave and generated much more curiosity and drew crowds. The BJP chief walked 337 km, overlaying the districts of Jogulamba-Gadwal, Narayanpet, Mahbubnagar, Nagarkurnool, and Ranga Reddy. The second section concluded on May 14 with a public assembly addressed by Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Tukkuguda on the outskirts of Hyderabad. At the assembly, Shah hit out on the TRS authorities and challenged Chief Minister Ok Chandrasekhar Rao, popularly often called KCR, to go for an early election. He additionally showered praises on Kumar on the assembly. The identical day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi known as up the state BJP chief to congratulate him on the success of the “padayatra”.
“The time was right because of the paddy procurement crisis, protests for government jobs, and the TRS’s friction with the Centre,” mentioned a district BJP chief who accompanied Kumar on the march. “The second section of the yatra drew much more consideration from folks. There was an enormous response to his spontaneous small conferences of individuals within the villages. He didn’t give speeches, he simply listened.”
Pointing out that Kumar was from a really humble background and lives a easy life, BJP spokesperson Krishna Sagar Rao, who can also be from Karimnagar, mentioned, “You have to appreciate his resolve for completing the second phase of his yatra without a break because the heat is unbearable. He walked for one month and the people also came out to meet him. By all means, it was very successful.”
At a current public gathering in Karimnagar, Kumar drew a parallel between his foot march and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Rajashekar Reddy’s “padayatra” earlier than he swept to energy in 2004. The BJP chief mentioned his focus was on assuring folks of “Neellu ( water), Nidhanalu (funds), and Niyamakalu (jobs), and accused the TRS of failing to ship on these three fronts.
“I plan to cover the remaining parts of the state in the next two phases leading up to the elections,” Kumar informed The Indian Express. “I am establishing local connections and reaching out to people in distress. There is a lot of anger and discontent among the people in the hinterland. The TRS has not fulfilled many of its promises like government jobs, drinking water supply, or rural development. It is time to dislodge the TRS government and for BJP to take over and ensure that the people of Telangana are given what they deserve. In many villages, there is no regular drinking water supply. Dalit families still remain landless. Government loans are available to only a few. Thousands of people have been left out of many welfare schemes, including old-age pension.”
Beginnings in ABVP
Kumar joined the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), which is affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), in Karimnagar throughout his scholar days and went on to grow to be the organisation’s metropolis president. He rose by the ranks to grow to be the ABVP’s nationwide secretary and accompanied BJP chief LK Advani for a number of days throughout his 1996 rath yatra. He grew to become the municipal corporator twice and got here into focus for his pro-Hindu speeches. On March 11, 2020, the BJP appointed him the president of the Telangana unit. He is thought to intersperse his speeches with requires “surgical strikes” on appeasement politics, poverty, and the TRS.
“After the 2018 elections, through which the celebration fared badly, the BJP which felt that among the seniors had been too tender, was searching for somebody with an enormous Hindu enchantment and after his shock win in Karimnagar in May 2019, he was elevated. The celebration, nonetheless, weighed the professionals and cons for almost 10 months earlier than appointing him,” mentioned a BJP insider.
The state BJP chief’s mates within the Karimnagar unit mentioned his ripostes and quips had been much like KCR, like whom he clothes solely in white.
With senior leaders reminiscent of Shah and Nadda backing him, the celebration is banking on Kumar to steer the celebration within the meeting elections. But some state BJP leaders should not certain of Kumar’s management qualities. They mentioned Kumar prefers to go it alone and whereas he’s not averse to hobnobbing with different celebration leaders, he stays reserved.
“The party should put in more effort to groom two or three leaders in Telangana. When they walk the streets, people should see leaders and we have to build that kind of leadership at the Assembly level … two or three notable leaders who can fight and win elections,” mentioned Rao.
Under the state BJP chief’s management, the celebration gained two Assembly by-polls after taking up as president and his aggressive stance towards the state authorities in the course of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation elections in December 2020 helped the celebration spring a shock and win 48 of 150 seats .
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
