Hyderabad: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has picked P.V.N. Madhav, a party loyalist with roots in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), as the next Andhra Pradesh unit chief to expand its footprint in the southern state where it has been struggling to gain ground on its own.
Madhav’s appointment ended the two-year tenure of former Congress Union minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) founder N.T. Rama Rao’s daughter, Daggubati Purandeswari.
The BJP, in alliance with the TDP and the Jana Sena Party (JSP), is a partner in the Chandrababu Naidu-led state government.
After a unanimous election, Madhav took charge in a ceremony at Vijayawada on Tuesday.
Like Telangana, though several popular leaders were in the fray for the top post, the BJP high command opted for a staunch party loyalist in Andhra Pradesh.
Like Ramchander Rao, the new Telangana BJP chief, Madhav also served as an MLC and a BJP leader in the legislative council. Both were elected from the Graduates’ constituencies in 2015 and 2017, respectively, in their respective states.
Both were associated with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the students’ wing of the RSS, cutting their teeth in politics in their student days. While Rao is a Brahmin, Madhav is from an OBC community.
Madhav’s family has been associated with the Sangh for two generations. His father, P.V. Chalapathi Rao, was the president of the BJP in united Andhra Pradesh in the early 1980s.
Madhav, 51, holds an MBA from Andhra University. Inheriting his father’s legacy, Madhav served in various posts in the BJP.
While Purandeswari, former chief minister Kiran Reddy and MLA Sujana Chowdary, among others, contended for the Andhra Pradesh BJP president post, sources said the high command honoured the Madhav family’s active association and contributions to the RSS and BJP growth in the state by elevating him.
“I was born during the Emergency, and now, when that chapter completes 50 years, I have become the AP BJP chief. I am happy to assume the post in a year when the RSS is completing 100 years,” Madhav told party workers at his induction event in Vijayawada.
Madhav said that under his predecessor, Purandeswari, the party achieved eight MLAs and three MP seats and it now aimed to double the numbers with the support of senior leaders.
Later, after visiting the famous Kanaka Durga temple at Indrakeeladri hill on Krishna banks, Madhav said that “he will resolve the minor differences within the NDA (National Democratic Alliance) in AP”.
“I will see that BJP gets more prominence in the alliance, by taking certain aspects to the notice of CM Naidu,” the new chief said, adding that the BJP will strive to bring more funds from the Centre to the state.
In March 2023, a year before the TDP-BJP patch-up, Madhav lost the North Andhra graduate MLC seat to TDP’s Vepada Chiranjeevi Rao.
On Tuesday, both TDP chief Naidu and JSP supremo Pawan Kalyan congratulated Madhav on his appointment as the BJP state president. “Madhav, in active politics since his student years, is a leader with nationalist spirit. Now as AP BJP President, I hope he carries forward the NDA’s spirit,” Kalyan said in a party release.
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)
Also Read: An ex-MLC & Brahmin leader with ABVP roots, Ramchander Rao is new chief of faction-ridden Telangana BJP
