Hyderabad: Union Minister of Coal and Mines and BJP State president G Kishan Reddy said that his party will be the principal stakeholder in the ensuing local body elections.

In a chit-chat with the media on Saturday, he spoke on a range of issues covering local body elections, development activities, appointment of state BJP president and the like. He said that currently, the process of appointing district presidents is ongoing, and it is expected to take another week. The appointment of the state president will take place only after that, and the national party will make the final decision. The state president can be an MP, an MLA, or even someone without any official position, he added.

When asked about the likelihood of Malkajgiri MP Eatala Rajender becoming state president given the current party norm, he said that “Eatala had contested in four elections from the BJP party ticket,so he is eligible.”

When asked by the media whether he is the likely candidate for the national president of the party, he saidthat currently he is a minister and that the party itself will decide on the national president’s appointment.

On the organisational elections, he said out of approximately 700 mandal committees, they have completed the formation of around 650 committees. “The party is planning to appoint more women as committee chairpersons and over 50 per cent of the mandal committee chairpersons will be from the BC (Backward Classes) category. We are implementing an internal 33 per cent reservation within the party. We hold organisational elections every three years. In the past, district presidents were appointed directly, but the process has changed now. Also, there is an age limit for mandal committees, as we believe that having young blood is beneficial for us.

This is one of the reasons for our strong support base, which differentiates BJP from other parties”, he said.

On Andhra Pradesh getting more funds vis a vis Telangana, he said the Centre is providing funds to Andhra Pradesh as per the Bifurcation Act and has allocated Rs 11,445 crores to the steel plant. On HYDRA, Kishan Reddy said the removal of encroachments of lakes is not a new issue.