Lucknow: After winning Assembly polls in three states, the BJP elevated second-rung leaders to plum posts keeping in mind future prospects of the party and the Lok Sabha elections.
The saffron party has surprised everyone by announcing Adivasi, Dalit, Brahmin and Rajput faces for the posts of chief minister and deputy chief minister in Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, thus balancing the caste dynamics.
By appointing an OBC CM in Madhya Pradesh, a tribal CM in Chhattisgarh, and a Brahmin CM in Rajasthan, the BJP has attempted to counter the strategies of opposition.
The party’s move is also being seen as an attempt to woo the Backward Classes, SCs/STs and Dalit to counter Opposition’s demand for caste census.
Political experts are of the view that with these decisions, the BJP and the RSS want to send a clear message that no one is bigger than the party and the Sangh has a say in the saffron party.
Political analyst Rajiv Shrivastav said the decision is not taken solely by the BJP, but after extensive deliberations with the RSS.
In 2014 polls, senior leader Murli Manohar Joshi was fielded from Kanpur, and in 2019, somebody else was given the chance to contest the polls.
Some senior leaders were honoured by appointing them as governors and around 50-60 leaders, including Yogi Adityanath, Keshav Prasad Maurya, Dinesh Sharma and Brajesh Pathak, were elevated to key posts. The BJP’s experiment has reaped dividends for the party.
Political expert Ratan Mani Lal said Om Prakash Chautala, Devi Lal, Jat and Gujjar leaders had a clout in Haryana but Manohar Lal Khattar was made the Chief Minister.
In Uttarakhand, which has leaders like Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, B.C. Khanduri and Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’, Pushkar Singh Dhami was made the chief minister in place of
In Gujarat, which has Nitin Patel and Vijay Rupani, Bhupendra Patel was elevated and made chief minister.
UP BJP spokesperson Anand Dubey said that the BJP is a cadre-based party which gives chance to all activists irrespective of their lineage and starta.
Workers are the real assets of the party and the BJP knows how to use the blend of youth’s passion and experience, Dubey said.
(Vivek Tripathi can be contacted at vivek.k@ians.in)
–IANS
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