According to sources, Kishan Reddy was planning to change at least 50 percent of the district presidents and replace them with his loyalists

Hyderabad: In an effort to tighten his grip over the party in the State before the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, State BJP president G Kishan Reddy is reportedly planning to replace a majority of the party’s district presidents and appoint his men on those posts.

According to sources, Kishan Reddy was planning to change at least 50 percent of the district presidents and replace them with his loyalists. During the assembly polls, Kishan Reddy faced a lot of problems with the district presidents and senior leaders. It is learnt that Kishan Reddy has identified district presidents who have not worked hard for the victory of the party candidates and those who worked against the party.

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He has reportedly started the exercise of selecting the candidates for the district president’s posts and as part of that initiative, he met several leaders on Saturday and discussed replacing the current district presidents. Sources said Kishan Reddy did not want to take a chance by continuing the present district presidents in the posts as that would affect the performance of the party in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

The move to replace district presidents is being seen as a strategic move by Kishan Reddy to have total control over the party. The ongoing difference among the leaders cost the party heavily during the assembly polls. In fact, the party leadership was forced to replace Bandi Sanjay with Kishan Reddy following several leaders complaining against him.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah too had expressed displeasure over the ongoing squabbles among senior leaders and warned that he would take stringent action against those involved in anti-party activities.

The party won four seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and this time it is planning to win over ten seats. The BJP’s vote share more than doubled from 6.10 percent in 2018 to 14.02 percent in the assembly elections held in November and it is aiming to net more than 25 percent in vote share in the upcoming general elections.

The saffron party has prepared a 90-day election action plan for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections for Telangana and asked the State leaders to take up outreach programmes on a massive scale.

Meanwhile, the BJP State Disciplinary Committee has issued show-cause notices to those who worked against the party in the assembly elections and neglected to perform their duties properly. It is learnt that about three district presidents and 10 State-level leaders were served the notices for anti-party activities during the assembly polls.