Telangana will have two Ministers in the Union Cabinet to be sworn in on June 9. The State BJP chief and Tourism Minister in the outgoing Union Cabinet G. Kishan Reddy will be repeated as the BJP won its highest-ever Parliament seats from Telangana under his leadership.
Karimnagar MP and firebrand leader Bandi Sanjay, who catapulted the party into a new league with his aggressive attack on the BRS government and the then Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao, secured the second berth from Telangana, according to highly placed sources in New Delhi.
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Mr. Kishan Reddy is a second-time MP from Secunderabad and is the soft face of the BJP, unlike the other MPs known for their aggression. He is a natural choice for the party given his seniority and association his right from his college days where he used to stay in the BJP office working full time.
Bandi Sanjay, the two-time MP from Karimnagar was expected to get the berth if the BJP decided to accommodate two people from Telangana. Mr. Sanjay, known for his fiery speeches is credited with pushing the party into a new league when the Congress was down.
BJP leader Bandi Sanjay Kumar during a celebratory procession after winning from Karimnagar constituency by a big margin, in Karimnagar on June 4, 2024. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Both the leaders come from the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak (RSS) background while the remaining BJP MPs have joined the BJP after dabbling with Congress, TDP or the BRS. Mr. Arvind Dharmapuri was a businessman before joining the party while his father D. Srinivas was the Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) chief apart from being a Minister in several Congress governments.
Mr. Sanjay’s entry was also expected given his work and popularity among the BJP cadre in Telangana. His entry into the Union Cabinet is a likely reward for his aggression that gave the BJP an impetus in Telangana in the last five years. The selection of Mr. Kishan Reddy and Bandi Sanjay serves the social and regional balance in Telangana as they belong to the two strong communities — Reddy and Munnuru Kapu. Mr. Sanjay comes from North Telangana where the party is getting stronger every year.
