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Conversations with disgruntled party workers and steering the BJP campaign in the upcoming polls was the focus of Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s three-day tour of poll-bound Madhya Pradesh that began on October 28.
For Shah, who has given direction to many a successful campaign for the party, the task is MP is cut out: To buck years of anti-incumbency and leverage the social welfarism of Shivraj Singh Chouhan to his political advantage. To that effect, he networked with a range of rebels and disgruntled party leaders at the ground level, convincing many to step back or aside. “He is guiding us in every aspect,” said a senior leader. “His primary focus is to ensure mobilisation and voter turnout.”
Apart from rallies in Junnardeo (Chhindwara) and Ujjain, he held closed door meetings with karyakartas in Ujjain, Rewa, Bhopal, Gwalior and Jabalpur.
Shah’s visit came after protests broke out on October 21, when the BJP released its fifth list of 92 candidates. A number of aspirants in six seats have resigned from the party over denial of tickets, and the BJP sent senior leaders to “troubleshoot”, with Shah overseeing this process.
The minister’s peace-making efforts started in Jabalpur, which saw ticket aspirants target Union minister Bhupendra Yadav, who is the BJP’s Madhya Pradesh election in-charge, over the party’s decision to field Abilash Pandey. Yadav’s appeal to party workers to maintain restraint were ignored by the leaders, who also roughed up a security personnel.
Shah held separate meetings with several dissidents, with Yadav and BJP Madhya Pradesh president V D Sharma present.
He proceeded to hold similar meetings in Bhopal and Gwalior.
“Amit Shah spoke directly to leaders who were identified as the source of the anger, and asked them to work for the party’s interests, assuring them due respect in the party. He said we must identify all leaders, no matter how small, and pacify them,” said a BJP leader.
One of the dissidents Shah spoke to was Dheeraj Pateria, who had earlier been denied a BJP ticket to contest from the Jabalpur North seat in 2018. He had then contested as an Independent, getting 29,479 votes, precipitating a loss for BJP candidate Sharad Jain by a mere 578 votes. Pateria has now declared he won’t be contesting this time.
However, Shah could not put out all the fires, with Prabhat Sahu resigning as the BJP’s Jabalpur city chief.
Party insiders said Sahu was disappointed over not getting a ticket from Jabalpur West or Jabalpur North Central Assembly segments.
In Dhar district, Shah met former minister Ranjana Baghel, who had decided to contest as an Independent from Manawar segment, and has been speaking up against BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya since late October.
One of the dissidents Shah spoke to was Dheeraj Pateria, who had earlier been denied a BJP ticket to contest from the Jabalpur North seat in 2018. He had then contested as an Independent, getting 29,479 votes, precipitating a loss for BJP candidate Sharad Jain by a mere 578 votes. Pateria has now declared he won’t be contesting this time.
However, Shah could not put out all the fires, with Prabhat Sahu resigning as the BJP’s Jabalpur city chief. Party insiders said Sahu was disappointed over not getting a ticket from Jabalpur West or Jabalpur North Central Assembly segments.
In Dhar district, Shah met former minister Ranjana Baghel, who had decided to contest as an Independent from Manawar segment, and has been speaking up against BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya since late October.
In Gwalior, a BJP leader said, Shah met dissidents for over an hour. “He also discussed poll preparations, taking stock of minute details on the ground. He laid emphasis on strengthening and empowering booth-level workers,” the leader said.
Shah also told party workers not to worry too much about the dissidents and wait for them to come around, while focusing on winning the elections.
A party leader said that Shah urged BJP leaders to focus on seats where triangular contests are expected, “like where the SP and BSP have fielded candidates”. “He asked us to focus on them to damage the Congress’s chances, instead of spending too much time on disgruntled BJP leaders.
Rajneesh Aggarwal, the state BJP secretary, told The Indian Express, “Not only did Amit Shah pacify the rebels, but also took stock of the organisation. He looked at the challenges and gave us solutions.”
