In a significant development on Saturday, as part of its party leadership reshuffle, the BJP elevated leaders who had defected from other parties, without a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) background or any other Sangh affiliation, to national leadership. Among those who took plum positions in the Modi-led dispensation are DK Aruna and D Purandeswari from the Telugu states as a national vice-president and general secretary, respectively. Both the women leaders were previously with the Congress.
Former Minister DK Aruna, who belongs to the Reddy community, had joined the BJP just a year ago. Offering a significant post to Aruna, who is a prominent figure in erstwhile Mahabubnagar district, is seen as an attempt by the BJP to lure the Reddy community towards them and rely on caste politics along with religion, say observers. The Reddys are a forward caste in Telangana.
Aruna’s elevation has proved that the BJP is focused on expanding the party in Telangana by all means. However, relying only on pleasing the Reddy community will not yield any result, say critics.
“A national party, that too one which is in power at the Union government and many states, choosing Aruna as a national leader is of high importance. The VP post was previously held by former Chief Ministers and Ministers, but what impact Aruna’s elevation will create in the state is too early to comment,” says political analyst T Lakshminarayana.
The appointment of Aruna and Purandeswari goes against the previously held belief that they would never rise in the party, as the BJP rewards only those with ideological commitments to the RSS, Lakshminarayana says, adding that her rise in the ranks shows that this a new BJP, whose focus is only to capture states by working out social equations and engineering defections.
Many perceived that Aruna’s political growth was curtailed after the party chose RSS man and Karimnagar MP Bandi Sanjay as the new state president over her and this is also being seen as a bid to placate her and her voter base.
Observers also point out that the BJP at least wishes to emerge as the main opposition in the state, by the next Assembly elections.
“Certainly, the party wants to expand in both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh and prepare the ground for the 2024 elections, and offering important posts to Aruna and Purandeshwari should be seen as an open invitation for leaders from other parties to join into their fold,” Lakshminarayana adds.
Rewarding Aruna clearly shows that the BJP wants to take advantage of both caste and religious politics, says Hyderabad-based political observer Telakapalli Ravi.
However, just her elevation does not mean that the BJP can smoothly take over the TRS and form the government anytime soon, he adds. “Most of the significant faces are still in Congress and KCR too has strategically taken many Reddy leaders into his party and kept them as second rank leaders. So, the BJP will be disappointed in expecting too much from Aruna’s elevation,” Ravi points out.
According to Ravi, though Aruna is an aggressive leader, she never has had a huge follower base.
“Aruna, being a prominent leader with a Reddy clout and as a woman leader, perfectly fits into what the BJP intends to do going forward in Telangana, but her elevation to national politics will not help the BJP in the state,” observes political commentator Palwai Raghavender.
Agreeing with Ravi, Raghavender says that he is not very optimistic that Aruna’s elevation would have any impact on BJP's growth in the state.
“In the state level politics ultimately the party’s decisions will be taken by the state party president and the role of Aruna is limited to national politics, so we only have to wait and see what happens,” Raghavender adds.