Bandi Sanjay Kumar (born 11 July 1971) is an Indian politician who is appointed as Minister of State for Home Affairs is a Member of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament of India, representing the Karimnagar constituency since 2019. He is the former state president of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Telangana from 11 March 2020 to 4 July 2023.[1] He is All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bibinagar board member.[2] He was named as National General Secretary on 29 July 2023 by the BJP National President.[3]

Bandi Sanjay Kumar
Sanjay Kumar at a public meeting in 2022
Minister of State for Home Affairs
Assumed office
11 June 2024
Prime MinisterNarendra Modi
MinisterAmit Shah
Preceded byNisith Pramanik
3rd President of Bharatiya Janata Party Telangana
In office
11 March 2020 – 4 July 2023
Preceded byK. Laxman
Succeeded byG. Kishan Reddy
Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha
Assumed office
23 May 2019
Preceded byB. Vinod Kumar
ConstituencyKarimnagar
Personal details
Born (1971-07-11) 11 July 1971 (age 53)
Karimnagar, Andhra Pradesh (Present-day Telangana), India
SpouseAparna
Residence(s)Karimnagar, Telangana, India
EducationMA (public admn) - (discontinued)
Alma materMadurai Kamaraj University
ProfessionBusiness
Websitebandisanjaybjp.in
Source: [1]

Early life and education

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Bandi Sanjay Kumar was born on 11 July 1971 to B. Narsayya and B. Sakuntala.[4] He completed his secondary schooling at Sri Saraswathi Shishumandir Unnata paathashaala, in Karimnagar, in 1986. He was also active in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh as a youth, joining the organization at the age of twelve.[5]

Political career

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Kumar was involved with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad,[6] eventually became town president and a state executive member of the organization. He also occupied leadership positions in this organization, becoming "town secretary, town president, national secretary of Kerala and incharge of Tamil Nadu."[5] In 1996, during BJP leader LK Advani's Surat Rath Yatra, he campaigned across India for 35 days.[7]

Kumar was elected a municipal corporator for Karimnagar's 48th division in 2005, and served in this role until his resignation in 2019, when he was elected to the Lok Sabha.[8] He was also fielded by the BJP in 2014 and 2018 as its candidate for the state assembly elections; he contested the Karimnagar seat both times. He was, however, unsuccessful in both elections, and lost to the Bharat Rashtra Samiti's Gangula Kamalakar.[9]

In the 2019 Indian general election, Kumar was fielded by the BJP from the Karimnagar Lok Sabha constituency. He contested against the incumbent Member of Parliament, the Telangana Rashtra Samiti's B. Vinod Kumar, and the Indian National Congress' Ponnam Prabhakar.[9][10] He was elected by a margin of 89,508 votes.[11] His election was considered something of a surprise due to the BJP's prior lack of significant strength in Telangana,[12] as well as the fact that both his major opponents were politically well-established.[9] With his election to the Lok Sabha, Bandi became one of four Bharatiya Janata Party MPs from Telangana, a historic first for the party.[13][9]

On 4 July 2023, Kumar stepped down as Telangana party president, and on 21 July he was replaced by G. Kishan Reddy.[14]

On July 30, 2023 Kumar was announced as National General Secretary for BJP,[15] and on 4 August 2023 he took up the post.[16]

He was appointed as Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs on 9 June 2024.[17]

Exam paper leak case

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In April 2023, Bandi Sanjay Kumar and three others were arrested on charges of being involved in the question paper leak case of Telangana State Board's class ten examinations.[18][19]

On the day of his arrest, the police shared a few of the WhatsApp chats shared between accused 1 (Kumar) and accused 2 (Prashant), in the case.[19] The Warangal Police Commissioner said : "Bandi Sanjay's phone is missing but we will retrieve WhatsApp messages and conversations very soon. They have deleted a few messages, call logs/call data, we will retrieve all those details."[19]

On 7 April, Kumar was released on bail. In a statement on his release, he accused the police of incompetence, and demanded a judicial probe into the paper leak.[20]

BJP national president J. P. Nadda and national general secretary Tarun Chugh said that Kumar's arrest was part of a conspiracy to defame the BJP for the SSC paper leak.[21]

Family

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In January 2023 Kumar's son Bandi Bhageerath had multiple charges registered against him for beating up a fellow student in his college.[22][23] In March 2023, the Telangana High Court issued a stay of Bandi Bhageerath's suspension from college, and the student whom he had attacked said that he had forgiven Kumar's son over the incident.[24]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Raj, R Pridhvi (12 March 2020). "Karimnagar MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar appointed as BJP Telangana president". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  2. ^ "Meet Bandi Sanjay Kumar, BJP's Hindutva Firebrand Leader From Telangana Takes Oath As Minister". Times Now. 9 June 2024. Retrieved 11 June 2024.
  3. ^ "BJP new list of National Office Bearers; Bandi Sanjay general secretary, C T Ravi dropped". Deccan Herald.
  4. ^ "Shri Sanjay Kumar Bandi". Lok Sabha.
  5. ^ a b "Bandi Sanjay". andhrajyothy.com. Archived from the original on 13 August 2022. Retrieved 19 October 2019.
  6. ^ Mukherjee, Kakoli (29 August 2022). "With Aggressive Hindutva Push, Fierce Oratory Style, Bandi Sanjay Kumar Shoulders BJP's Telangana Dreams". News18 India. Retrieved 8 April 2023.
  7. ^ Jaffrelot, Christophe (2010). Religion, Caste, and Politics in India. India: Primus Books. p. 334. ISBN 978-93-80607-04-7.
  8. ^ "Karimnagar: Elected MP, Bandi Sanjay Kumar quits as corporator". Deccan Chronicle. 26 May 2019. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
  9. ^ a b c d Dayashankar, K. m (24 May 2019). "BJP's Bandi Sanjay springs a surprise". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
  10. ^ Pavan, P. (28 May 2019). "Telangana Rashtra Samithi sees Modi wave eating into its votes; to adopt issue based approach with BJP". Mumbai Mirror. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
  11. ^ "General Election 2019 – Election Commission of India". results.eci.gov.in. Archived from the original on 4 June 2019. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
  12. ^ "BJP sees potential for its growth in Telangana". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
  13. ^ "Beginning of BJP era in Telangana". Deccan Herald. 24 May 2019. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
  14. ^ "G Kishan Reddy takes over as Telangana BJP president". Hindustan Times. 22 July 2023.
  15. ^ "Bandi Sanjay Kumar appointed BJP's national general secretary". Hindustan Times. 30 July 2023.
  16. ^ "Bandi Sanjay takes charge as BJP National General Secretary". ap7am.com. 4 August 2023.
  17. ^ "Modi 3.0 Live Updates: Amit Shah retains Home, Rajnath gets Defence, Nadda gets Health". The Hindu. 10 June 2024.
  18. ^ "Telangana BJP chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar named prime accused in SSC paper leak case, sent to judicial custody till April 19". The Times of India. 6 April 2023. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
  19. ^ a b c Jayachandran, Apoorva. "Bandi Sanjay Kumar prime accused, confessed in the Telangana paper leak case: Police". India Today.
  20. ^ "Freed from jail, Bandi demands judicial probe into SSC paper leak". Deccan Chronicle. 8 April 2023.
  21. ^ "Telangana BJP president Bandi Sanjay's arrest is part of conspiracy to defame BJP for SSC paper leak: Senior party leaders". The Hindu. 5 April 2023.
  22. ^ "Criminal case against Bandi Sanjay's son for slapping batchmate, video goes viral". The Times of India. 19 January 2023.
  23. ^ "Telangana BJP president Bandi Sanjay's son booked for assaulting batchmate, MP claims political vendetta". The Indian Express. 18 January 2023.
  24. ^ "Bandi Bhageerath: బండి సంజయ్ కుమారుడికి హైకోర్టులో ఊరట". Samayam (in Telugu).
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