Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reportedly expressed sharp dissatisfaction with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders from Telangana over the party’s continued inability to convert his personal popularity into electoral success in the state. During a breakfast meeting with BJP Members of Parliament from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh last week, the Prime Minister is said to have delivered a stern reprimand, questioning their effectiveness as an Opposition and accusing them of weakening the party’s prospects in Telangana.
According to sources present at the meeting, PM Modi repeatedly asked the MPs how long the BJP would continue to underperform in a state where it once showed early promise. Drawing a historical comparison, he referred to the BJP’s journey since 1984, when the party won just two Lok Sabha seats nationwide — one in Gujarat and one in Hanamkonda (now part of Telangana). While Gujarat later became the BJP’s strongest base, Telangana failed to replicate that growth.
The Prime Minister’s frustration appears to stem from the contrast between the BJP’s improving performance in Telangana during parliamentary elections and its weak showing in Assembly polls. While the party increased its Lok Sabha tally from one seat in 2014 to eight seats in 2024, it managed to win only eight Assembly seats in the 2023 state election, despite a significant vote share. This gap highlights a pattern where voters support Modi at the national level but do not see the BJP as a credible alternative for state governance.
Recent electoral setbacks have added to the concern. In the Jubilee Hills Assembly bypoll in Hyderabad, the BJP secured less than nine per cent of the vote, while its vote share declined compared to the previous election. Similarly, BJP-backed candidates performed poorly in the first phase of gram panchayat elections, winning only a small fraction of sarpanch posts.
Party insiders suggest that leadership decisions have contributed to the stagnation. The removal of former state BJP president Bandi Sanjay Kumar just months before the 2023 Assembly election is widely seen as a turning point that disrupted the party’s momentum. His replacement, Union Minister G Kishan Reddy, was viewed as a stopgap arrangement, and his continuation in the Cabinet despite the Assembly defeat has raised questions within party ranks.
Meanwhile, Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy has emerged as a politically agile leader for the Congress, successfully positioning himself as a development-focused administrator while neutralising national-level attacks from the BJP. This has further complicated the BJP’s strategy of sidelining the Congress before challenging regional parties, a formula that worked in states like Odisha and Tripura.
While PM Modi’s frustration with Telangana BJP leaders is evident, critics argue that the responsibility lies as much with the party’s central leadership and organisational decisions as with the state unit. With frequent leadership changes and internal factionalism, the BJP in Telangana continues to struggle to build a strong, grassroots-based political identity beyond Modi’s personal appeal.
Originally published on 24×7-news.com.
