Hyderabad: Internal bickering in state BJP refuses to die down what with Nizamabad MP Dharmapuri Arvind coming out openly in support of Bangalore South MP Tejaswi Surya’s controversial comments on state bifurcation comparing it with counter’s partition.
The state BJP leadership, including Union minister G. Kishan Reddy, not only distanced itself from the comments on bifurcation but also announced, as part of damage control, that Surya indeed regretted his comments and offered apologies.
Much to their embarrassment Arvind, at a press conference on Saturday, defended Surya’s comments.
“What is wrong with what he said,” Arvind asked, insisting that the truth lay in Congress’s delay in granting statehood, which fuelled youth deaths during the separate Telangana agitation. His unapologetic stand stood in sharp contrast to senior leaders, exposing deepening rifts in Telangana BJP ranks.
The original controversy erupted from Surya’s speech labelling the Congress-led UPA’s split of the state as “unscientific,” contrasting it with the “peaceful” formation of Uttarakhand and Jharkhand under the Vajpayee government. The remarks targeted Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy’s “hybrid model” for delimitation, which Surya dismissed as a “foolish argument” violating “one man, one vote, one value.”
The statement sparked instant protests in Parliament, with Opposition leaders charging that it insulted the Telangana statehood movement and constitutional spirit.
Amid a backlash, senior party leaders sought to downplay the issue and offered apologies if sentiments were hurt. Yet, contradictory statements persisted, fuelling the disarray that surprised observers, given the BJP’s regular Prashikshan Shivir and Abhyas Varga programme which train leaders and workers on ideology and unified messaging for disciplined public stances.
As Hyderabad protests grew, Union coal minister G. Kishan Reddy shifted gears. He first defended Surya, saying the MP aimed to critique Congress’s “fraudulent” and “violent” handling of the state division — which cost 1,200 lives — and not to insult Telangana. A day later, Reddy called the remarks an “unintentional” mistake and wrong.
Union MSME minister Shobha Karandlaje, who led protests against Congress on the women’s Bill, adopted a conciliatory tone to limit state-level damage during her visit to the state. She apologised on behalf of the party if Telangana and Andhra Pradesh sentiments were wounded, noting Surya’s words arose in the “flow of speech,” and not due to malice toward the statehood struggle.
BJP state president N. Ramchander Rao countered opposition narratives, accusing the BRS and the Congress of twisting the remarks for gain. He claimed the BJP backed Telangana’s formation versus Congress’s “flawed” 2014 bifurcation, unlike Vajpayee-era successes.
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