BJP's Firebrand Leader Bandi Sanjay Moves From RSS to Union Cabinet

Bandi Sanjay Kumar, who took oath as minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet today, had weathered political storms and intra-party bickering before he could successfully establish himself as a firebrand BJP leader in Telangana.

The foundation for Mr Kumar's political rise could be traced to his days of student politics in the Akhil Bhaaratiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the students' wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh – the ideological mentor of the BJP -- with which he was associated since his childhood.

His grooming in the right-wing outfit provided him an ideological launchpad and he gradually became popular as an aggressive leader.

Mr Kumar's direct style ensured his victory in a number of seats in the Hyderabad civic polls during the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi regime, which signalled the likelihood of the BJP's becoming an alternative to the Telangana party.

As the BJP national general secretary, Mr Kumar retained the Karimnagar Lok Sabha constituency in Telangana with a massive margin of over 2.25 lakh votes in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls.

Earlier, he had contested as a BJP candidate in 2014 Karimnagar Assembly elections, securing the second position with 52,000 votes. In 2020, he was appointed BJP president of Telangana. During his tenure as the state BJP chief, Mr Kumar was instrumental in organising several programmes against the then K Chandrashekar Rao-led BRS government's policies.

Infighting within the party led to his replacement as Telangana BJP chief and his party colleague G Kishan Reddy became the state BJP president. Mr Kumar was elevated as the party's national general secretary.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)