BJP’s Chhattisgarh overhaul: New leaders in place, party looks to go all out against Baghel

Sources in the party said national president J P Nadda and other central leaders would soon visit Chhattisgarh to “review and suggest changes” to the functioning of the state unit and set the ball rolling for the party’s election preparation. “With changes at the helm of affairs in the state, we have got an opportunity to have a close look and review the way the state unit has been functioning,” said a senior BJP leader familiar with the developments in Chhattisgarh.

Summing up the challenges before the BJP in the state, a party functionary said, “First of all, the party has yet to prepare a strategy to regain its support base among tribals. The state unit with the present leadership does not seem to be efficient enough to prepare the strategies based on caste equations. Although a booth strengthening programme is on, the BJP needs to create a ‘mahaul (atmosphere)’ against the Bhupesh Baghel government and there has to be aggressive posturing. We also need to have at least half a dozen people to unleash powerful attacks on the state government’s policies and its leaders. We do not have that as of now.”

But the national leadership seems to be optimistic. The first step it took to put things in order in the rift-ridden Chhattisgarh unit was the appointment of Sao who, according to a section of leaders, enjoys a neutral image in a state that is deeply influenced by a group led by former Chief Minister Raman Singh. Next, Chandel, who is a four-time MLA, was promoted during the visit of BJP national general secretary and Chhattisgarh-in-charge D Purandeswari.

Their predecessors Vishnu Deo Sai, the former state unit chief, and former Leader of the Opposition Dharamlal Kaushik were considered close to Singh who is currently a BJP national vice-president and remains the party’s tallest leader in the state.

“The elevation of these two leaders, replacing those who are considered to be close to Raman Singh, has given a freshness to the party in the state. Those who were miffed with the earlier state leadership will start working for the party, keeping the coming elections in mind,” said a leader.

Purandeswari told The Indian Express that the BJP would now go all out against the Baghel government. “Keeping the election in mind, the BJP is on the road to exposing the corruption and failure of the state government. There are a lot of scams in connection with sand mining, liquor mafia, and the Godhan Nyay scheme.”

According to the BJP leader, the state government’s failure to complete the construction of homes for the poor under the PM Aawas Yojana (PMAY) led to the state losing around eight lakh houses.

“There is constant talk about Chhattisgarh pride. The BJP would like to question it — how is that pride being protected by the Congress government? The party has sent Rajya Sabha MPs from outside the state. The state’s money is looted and sent to other states for the Congress to fight elections. Chhattisgarh has become the Congress’s ATM,” Purandeswari alleged.

The senior BJP leader pointed out that while the Congress talks about “Adivasi pride”, the BJP honoured the community by nominating Droupadi Murmu for the presidency.

The Chhattisgarh BJP has not yielded results since it lost power in 2018, failing to win any election under the previous state leadership. Even as central leaders vouch for the “neutrality” of Sao and Chandel, BJP leaders from the state do not agree completely. A leader pointed out that Sao does not belong to any major camps but he does not have “much hold” over the electorate while Chandel is considered to be close to Brijmohan Agrawal who leads a faction opposed to Raman Singh.

“He (Sao) may be able to take everyone along. But the national leadership chose both the posts from the OBC communities. The tribal representation in the government at the Centre — Renuka Singh, MoS Tribal Affairs — has not been able to make a mark so far,” said a BJP MP.

BJP leaders, however, said a revamped state unit would be able to “expose corruption and the deep internal fight in the Congress between Baghel and Health Minister T S Singh Deo who is known as Baghel’s rival in the state Congress” and use them to its advantage ahead of the Assembly elections. Party leaders also said that the party could make the most of the “uneasiness among tribals due to the activities of Christian missionaries in tribal areas”.

— With inputs from ENS Raipur