New outfits on horizon, MP BJP goes into a forest resort huddle, shunts dist chiefs

They included the district presidents of Bhind, Gwalior, Ashok Nagar and Guna – all in the Gwalior-Chambal region — where the BJP lost the Morena and Gwalior mayoral seats. The fifth district that saw a change was Katni, where BJP rebel Preeti Suri, contesting as an Independent, defeated the party’s official candidate.

The Gwalior-Chambal region is a stronghold of Union ministers Jyotiraditya Scindia, and Narendra Singh Tomar. Senior leaders like Jaibhan Singh Pawaiya, and MP Home Minister Narottam Mishra also hail from this region.

All the top leaders of the state, many of them known rivals, were present at the nine-hour meeting held by Santhosh – in the Ratapani forest resort, 55 km from Bhopal and away from mobile connectivity – including Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Narottam Mishra and eight other ministers; V D Sharma; and Scindia, Tomar, and other Union ministers such as Virendra Khatik, Faggan Singh Kulaste and Prahlad Patel.

While the leaders were advised to not let their rivalries affect party interests, sources said one of the main issues on the agenda was the increasing footprint of organisations representing the interests of marginalised groups such as the Jan Adivasi Yuva Shakti (JAYS), the Bhim Army of Chandrashekar Azad, and the Socialist Democratic Party of India (SDPI), which is the political wing of the recently banned People’s Front of India.

The BJP has been trying to woo back the tribal vote which was seen to have turned against the party in the 2018 Assembly polls, along with that of the SCs. The party had won merely 34 of the 82 reserved SC/ST seats in the state, compared to 59 in 2013. Last year, the party launched an extensive tribal outreach programme.

V D Sharma said it was not right to say the BJP did not fare well in the local body elections, and asserted that tribals had voted for it in large numbers. “We not only put up a stellar victory but also swept all the local bodies in tribal-dominated districts from Dindori to Jhabua. It were the beneficiary schemes of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, be it the Awas Yojna or ration scheme, which paid dividends,” he told The Indian Express.

Other senior party leaders, however, confirmed that at the meeting of October 1, extensive discussions were held on the areas where the party was vulnerable and where regional outfits such as JAYS, the Bhim Army and SDPI could cut into its votes. “It was discussed how they were trying to enter the state’s politics, which might divide the SC vote in various regions,” said a senior BJP leader.

“Another important discussion was to guard against an understanding between the SCs and Muslims for voting, which would benefit the Congress,” the leader said.

In its first poll contest in MP, the SDPI won a few corporation seats in Muslim-dominated districts of Khargone and Ratlam, while candidates backed by JAYS went on to win over a thousand sarpanch posts and at least 20 post of councillors in the tribal-dominated districts.

A social organisation working for tribal rights, JAYS is now gearing up to float a political party and rope in youths. It has announced a Mahasabha on October 20 to discuss issues such as the implementation of PESA (Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas Act) and community rights.

The Bhim Army is riding on the anger over the BJP’s expulsion in August of Pritam Singh Lodhi, a key OBC leader from Shivpuri district in Chambal region, over his remarks on Brahmins. A week after his expulsion, Lodhi had held a massive rally to show his strength and gone to meet Azad, reportedly aiming to bring together their respective vote banks of OBCs and SCs in the region.

Incidentally, the new Bhind district president of the BJP is Devendra Narvariya, who comes from the same Lodhi OBC community as Pritam Singh Lodhi. He replaced Nathu Singh Gurjar.

Besides the challenges from these outfits, at the October 1 meeting, BJP leaders were also told again to ensure that beneficiaries are fully aware of the schemes rolled out by the party’s governments at the state and in the Centre for them.

A BJP leader explained what this might mean: “One of us can be present when an individual gets a house under the PM Awas Yojna and organises a grah-pravesh.”