Road to 2024 | From govt to party, there could be changes as BJP hits poll mode

At the organisation level, the BJP has already sent a “vistarak” (full-timers appointed for short periods) each to 160 short-listed parliamentary constituencies, which it lost last time and where it sees a good chance of return; as well as to all the parliamentary seats in the nine states that go to polls before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. While the BJP had initially identified 140 parliamentary seats across the country where it lost in 2019, to focus on this time, it recently added 20 to the list.

The vistaraks, who underwent training over two meetings last month, will work in tandem with district presidents, and be stationed in the constituencies assigned to them till the elections are over.

As part of this organisational push, Home Minister Amit Shah will travel to 11 states this month. He is expected in Tripura on January 5, Manipur and Nagaland on January 6, will travel to Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand on January 7, and Andhra Pradesh on January 8. On January 16, the senior BJP leader will be in Uttar Pradesh, the next day he will be in West Bengal, and on January 28, he hits Hubli in Karnataka, followed by Haryana and Punjab the next day.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is, meanwhile, prepping the government front for the elections, sources said, reviewing the performance of all his ministers. “The assessment is purely on the basis of the performance of a ministry or department in implementing programmes initiated by the Centre, and the impact on the lives of the people,” one leader said, while adding that caste equations would also be a factor in changes at both the government and organisation levels. Another important consideration would be the BJP’s performance in the recent Assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.

Any decision though would bear in mind the coming elections and challenges.

One community that the BJP will seek to placate are the Brahmins, who have been unhappy over their gradual “shrinking” in party leadership positions. Besides, it will bear in mind changes in Bihar with the JD(U)’s exit, the altered Lingayat-Vokkaliga equations in Karnataka following recent government quota rejig, and the revamped Maharashtra field with two Shiv Senas in the reckoning.

Some ministers, especially in poll-bound states, could be shifted to party work. Both the OBC and tribal communities of Madhya Pradesh are expected to get more representation in the party and government. In poll-bound Rajasthan, where the party is divided between many factions, a top leader indicated in an informal interaction that the BJP was yet to take a call on whether it should declare a chief minister face or have collective leadership.

In Karnataka, where elections are due before May, party sources ruled out changes at the top level. A senior leader said that while CM Basavaraj Bommai will lead the party, his predecessor B S Yediyurappa, who has been unhappy, would be “the guide”. However, changes in the organisation could happen, though the long-awaited Cabinet reshuffle is still at the level of consideration.

With Shah declaring that the BJP would go it alone in the Assembly elections, the focus will be on areas where the party sees itself as weak – old Mysore and the Vokkaliga-dominated areas. Although the response to Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra in Karnataka had triggered some nervousness among party leaders, recent wins in urban local body elections in Vijayapura up north and Kollegal in south have boosted the BJP’s morale.

However, as the party notches up victories, it knows now an ironic truth: this leaves it an ever-widening pool of aspirants to manage. In the final leg, the BJP may need to ensure a clever management of this to ensure it doesn’t grow into a hurdle.

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