Hyderabad, July 25 -- The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Telangana facing internal wrangling ahead of the elections to the local bodies in the state in September and to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) scheduled in December, party functionaries familiar with the development said.

At a time when 42% reservations for the other backward classes (OBCs) has become a big political issue in the local body elections, the appointment of an upper caste leader N Ramachander Rao as the Telangana state BJP president on July 1 has triggered discontent within the party.

At least three prominent OBC leaders - Malkajgiri MP Eatala Rajender, Nizamabad MP Dharmapuri Arvind and Goshamahal MLA T Raja Singh - were in the race for becoming ...