Whatever the final result in the GHMC elections, one thing is clear. State president Bandi Sanjay is the rising star of the BJP. Not only he has emerged as an icon for the party’s rank and file, he also emerged as a strong and strident voice of Hindutwa. He has emerged the face of the party and will soon become stronger within the party piping past senior BJP leaders.
Analysts say Bandi Sanjay and Dharmapuri Aravind will be the new faces of the party. This only means that the likes of Kishan Reddy, Dr Laxman, Premender Reddy, Muralidhar Rao and others will be pushed to the background. The GHMC election has been completely dominated by Sanjay and Aravind and the other leaders had just additive value. Whatever the outcome of the GHMC elections, these two leaders have emerged as the voice of the party and will continue to do so.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling up Bandi Sanjay soon after the polling was over is being seen as an endorsement of Sanjay and is intended to silence the leaders who are questioning him. This is a signal to all other leaders that they should follow Bandi Sanjay. In fact, even during the GHMC polls, a section in the BJP had not cooperated with Bandi Sanjay. That group will fall silent soon after Modi’s phone call.