K Venkateshwarlu
Hyderabad
The chaos in the Telangana BJP unit reached its peak on Monday with Dubbak MLA M. Raghunandan Rao’s raising allegations against the party’s state and national leadership.
News channels said that Raghunandan made serious allegations against the state and national leaders of the BJP including BJP President JP Nadda, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Telangana BJP President Sanjay during a chit-chat with New Delhi journalists.
He also gave an ultimatum to the BJP leadership that the party must give him either the Telangana BJP President’s post or the BJP’s Assembly Floor Leader post or the BJP national spokesperson post. He demanded that the party must give due recognition to him.
Raghunandan said that he has been working for the party for 10 years and asked the party to explain why he is not eligible for the Telangana BJP’s President post.
“My caste may be a curse for me on some issues. Everybody knows what the BJP is going to be in the next two months. I will win as an MLA from Dubbaka a second time. Amit had not campaigned for me in Dubbak. Nobody helped me in the Dubbak by-election. I want to be in the BJP. The BJP did not win in Munugode even though it spent Rs 100 crore. But I won on my own. I would have shown what I can do if I had been given Rs 100 crore. The people of Dubbak ensured my victory by seeing me and not the BJP. The BJP got just 3,500 votes before I came. How did Sanjay, who contested elections by selling his wife’s gold ornaments get Rs 100 crore to spend on advertisements? I too have a stake in party funds. People vote after seeing the photos of Raghunandan and Eatala Rajender and not that of Tarun Chugh or Sunil Bansal. Nadda did not know that the BJP did not have a Floor Leader in the Telangana Assembly. Nadda asked me when I told them about it. Eatala joined the BJP because of my victory in the by-poll. The news about removing Sanjay from the TS BJP president’s post is true. Nobody has worked for the sake of the party in the last 10 years. I will file a complaint with the Prime Minister against Nadda if my service is not rewarded,” he said.
However, Raghunandan tweeted in the evening that he did not say what the news channels were telecasting.
He tweeted, “As a committed BJP karyakarta it is my responsibility to maintain loyalty and take action against news channels that are disseminating false information. I am determined to address this situation appropriately. @AmitShah @JPNadda @blsanthosh @tarunchughbjp”.
He also held a press conference at 7 pm on Monday and condemned the news reports being aired in his name. He made it clear that he did not make any anti-party statements.
“I am not a leader who will defy the leadership. I am a leader who sticks to any decision the party takes. I did not conduct a press meet in New Delhi and there is no truth in the news that I demanded a key post in the party. I have been in my constituency for the last two months. I came to New Delhi for funds for my constituency. However, there is nothing wrong in expecting party posts,” he said.
Meanwhile, BRS leaders said that Raghunandan may join the BRS. They said that Raghunandan may quit the BJP if it doesn’t recognise his contributions. The Raghunandan issue has become a hot topic in BRS circles.
