Two Bharatiya Janata Party MPs from Telangana–G Kishan Reddy and Bandi Sanjay Kumar– are set to take oath as ministers in the Narendra Modi-led Cabinet on Sunday, June 9. Both the leaders started their political careers with the BJP, went on to lead the BJP state unit and played a significant role in the party's expansion in Telangana over the past ten years.
Telangana BJP president G Kishan Reddy, who held the portfolio of tourism, culture and development of the northeast region in the previous Cabinet, is likely to get Cabinet rank once again. From 2019 to 2021, he served as the Union Minister of State (MoS) for Home Affairs. Bandi Sanjay, the MP from Karimnagar, is likely to be made minister of state (MoS). In July last year, Bandi Sanjay was removed as the BJP state president and Kishan Reddy was appointed the party chief.
Kishan Reddy is a native of Timmapur in Rangareddy district and holds a diploma in tool design. He has been politically active since his student days, and held various key positions in the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), the party's youth wing.. He was elected thrice as an MLA (once from Himayat Nagar and twice from Amberpet) between 2004-2014 before contesting for an MP seat from Secunderabad. He contested successfully twice from Secunderabad LS in 2019 and 2024.
Bandi Sanjay Kumar(52) became a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in his early teens. He began his political journey during his college years when he joined the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). He later participated in LK Advani’s Rath Yatra in 1996. In 2005, he served as a Karimnagar Municipal Corporator and subsequently contested the Assembly elections in 2014 and 2018, but lost.
In 2019, Bandi Sanjay was nominated by the BJP to contest the Karimnagar Lok Sabha seat and achieved victory. He was a member of various parliamentary standing committees too. In 2020 he was appointed the state president of the BJP, and became known for his communal and inflammatory speeches targeting Muslims particularly during the GHMC elections in 2020.