The extensive campaign by former Telangana health minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Eatala Rajender and his wife Jamuna in Huzurabad assembly constituency in the wake of the forthcoming by-elections has given a fillip to the BJP but at the same time, it is said to have upset the state BJP leadership.
For the last three days, Rajender has been on a marathon padayatra in the entire constituency in the name of “Praja Deevena Yatra”.
He is touring each and every village and is planning to visit 127 villages covering a total distance of 270 kilometres in a span of 23 days.
At the same time, his wife Jamuna, too, has been travelling across the length and breadth of the constituency in support of her husband.
So far so good. But what is unpalatable to the BJP leadership is the personal agenda of Rajender in undertaking this campaign. Though he and his followers have been sporting saffron upper clothes and holding BJP flags, the campaign is centred around only Rajender.
“It is about Rajender, his past and present. He is talking only about his achievements during his previous tenure, the humiliation meted out to him in the TRS and how he is challenging the might of chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao. He is not talking about BJP taking on TRS,” a BJP leader observed.
What is more, Rajender is not highlighting the Narendra Modi government and its contribution to the development of Telangana.
“It appears Rajender has joined the BJP only to get a political platform to sustain his political career. He wants to make use of the BJP to add mileage to his personal image in the constituency, that’s all,” the BJP leader said.
Yet, the BJP cadres, too, are participating in his rallies in big numbers so as to give a boost to the party’s image in Huzurabad, so that even if Rajender doesn’t win the seat, it would help the BJP grow in strength at least by next elections.