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Journalism of Courage
THE BJP’S big defeat in Karnataka cast a shadow over the party’s Madhya Pradesh executive meeting in Bhopal on Friday, with leaders expressing worry over the internal frictions in the BJP’s state unit.
Several senior leaders clearly told the state leadership to resolve the differences expeditiously, with the countdown beginning for the Assembly polls later this year. The primary concern for the party are the strained ties between Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and BJP state unit president V D Sharma.
Sources said that at the Bhopal meeting, senior BJP leaders conveyed that that unless the top state leaders “resolve differences between them and work together as a single unit” the party will face “serious consequences”, adding that they had “the example of Karnataka” before them.
In the just concluded Karnataka elections, the BJP won just 65 seats in the 224-member Assembly, handing the Congress a big majority. Karnataka was the only southern state where the BJP has ever come to power.
A four-term CM, Chouhan is facing anti-incumbency and a “fatigue factor”, though electorally he remains the tallest leader for the BJP in the state.
Sources said this ties the BJP’s hands as the party cannot go in for “a change of leadership”, especially with the polls so near. Added a leader: “We neither have time to replace the top leadership nor do we have too many choices. We have to work with the given set of leaders and within the existing circumstances.”
So one of the points that was stressed at the meeting was the need to underline the popular welfare programmes of the Chouhan government, to counter the anti-incumbency. The party had earlier too directed the state unit to work towards rebranding Chouhan’s image and spreading the word about his popular schemes.
The Chouhan government has embarked on several populist initiatives such as Rs 100 crore for a temple of Sant Ravidas, revered by Dalits; introduction of Hindu scriptures in government school curriculum; and construction of temple corridors in Orchha and Chitrakoot. However, Hindutva may not be as much of a winning factor in Madhya Pradesh, with Congress leader and likely CM-designate Kamal Nath playing the same card aggressively, and with Hindus forming an overwhelming 90% of the state’s population.
More schemes directed at women are on the cards, as part of the larger BJP push to attract women voters, who increasingly turn out in larger numbers at polling booths. The BJP is also hoping to get its caste dynamics right, having identified this as one of its failures in 2018.
Chouhan’s position in the BJP unit was left shaky after the 2018 poll defeat, with a section of the party and the RSS sceptical about the fact that he remained in power despite the loss.
The BJP worry is also understandable as there are several parallels between the party’s situation in Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka. In both the states, the party came to power from behind after the 2018 elections, toppling a Congress government; in both, there are several claimants to the top post in the BJP; and in both, the Congress is a formidable opponent and seems more on course for the polls than the BJP.
The BJP has been in power in Madhya Pradesh since 2003, barring 15 months during which the Kamal Nath-led Congress was in power (December 2018-March 2020).
The other point of friction in the Madhya Pradesh BJP is over what ended that 15-month period. In March 2020, 21 Congress leaders led by Jyotiraditya Scindia crossed over to the BJP, helping it overthrow the Congress government and come to power.
Many leaders resent the fact that the 21 defectors have got preferential treatment, with most of them accommodated via some posts or other.
