New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party president Jagat Prakash Nadda, who took charge about four months ago, is in the process of finalising his new young team, which will address the ground realities in the next 2024 Lok Sabha elections when many of the stalwart leaders from the Indian political landscape would either be absent or would have lost their sheen by that time.
A BJP source said that the next elections will be fought when many tall leaders like Mulayam Singh Yadav, Mayawati, Sharad Pawar, Lalu Prasad Yadav, Sonia Gandhi, Nitish Kumar, Naveen Patnaik, Chandrababu Naidu are likely to become “insignificant”. “The next 2024 Lok Sabha elections are likely to be the last elections for these leaders, who ruled the roost in Indian politics for several years. Even within the BJP, a large number of senior leaders may become ‘irrelevant’. In that situation, the BJP needs to groom a new set of young leaders all over the country who can carry forward the party’s legacy. These new leaders should be able to take care of the party for, say another two or three decades or so,” he added.
For example, in UP, senior Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Mulayam Singh Yadav and Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) leader Mayawati are unlikely to be major factors in the 2024 elections. However, in this case, the BJP has been able to provide an alternative, strong leadership face in Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
Similarly, Sharad Pawar may lose relevance in Maharashtra in the next four years. Even in the Congress, Sonia Gandhi’s influence may be diminished to a great extent. Rahul Gandhi has not been able to establish himself within the party and in that situation, the fate of the party remains uncertain.
In Odisha, 2024 will probably be the last elections with Naveen Patnaik at the helm of affairs, in terms of his active role in politics. Therefore, the BJP needs to groom a face who can catch the imagination of the Odia people. “Baijayant Panda was inducted into the BJP keeping this factor in mind. Odia people do not like aggressive leaders and so Panda fits into that category. He may be able to fill the leadership void in the state in future,” the source added.
In Bihar, Nitish Kumar’s sheen may be diminished by 2024, even if he is able to win the coming Assembly elections and become Chief Minister once again. It is likely that Nitish Kumar may not be a significant player by that time and there might be changes within the JDU itself. With Lalu Prasad Yadav gradually becoming “irrelevant” because of his jail term and also poor health, the Opposition space is unlikely to be filled in the near future.
Even within the BJP, the party is thinking of grooming leaders at the state level who can be the faces for the next few years or decades. “For example, the party needs to look beyond Shivraj Singh Chouhan in Madhya Pradesh, Vasundhara Raje in Rajasthan and B.S. Yeddyurappa in Karnataka and Raman Singh in Chhattisgarh,” the source pointed out. In Bihar BJP, leaders like Sushil Modi, Nand Kishore Yadav, who were once groomed by K. Govindacharya, and also other leaders like Ashwini Choubey may lose their stature and, therefore, a new set of leadership will have to be prepared to take over the reins of the party. The source said state president Sanjay Jaiswal and Minister of State Nityanand Rai have the potential to provide the next generation leadership in the state.
In West Bengal too, the party has been trying to groom a leadership which can counter Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The BJP, which did not have much presence in the state till a few years ago, has become a formidable force, so much so that it is hoping to dislodge the Mamata Banerjee government in the Assembly elections next year. Sources said the trio of Locket Chatterjee, Dilip Ghosh and Babul Supriyo may be the party’s faces in the coming years.
At the Central level, the party lost many prominent faces in the last few years, including Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Ananth Kumar. Another senior leader M. Venkaiah Naidu has become Vice President. So, the party needs to fill the vacancy in its Parliamentary Board.
At present, besides Nadda, the Parliamentary Board consists of Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Thawar Chand Gehlot and B.L. Santosh. It is speculated that the vacancy will be filled by leaders coming from organisational backgrounds. The party is also expected to announce the new team of national office-bearers and National Executive.
Nadda took over as the party president about four months ago, but could not constitute his team due to the unprecedented situation arising out of the Covid-19 pandemic.
But now, he is holding hectic consultations with his party colleagues to give final contours of his new team with the “go young” mantra. The party has almost concluded the formation of new state teams and most of the 700 plus district presidents are below 50 years of age. There is an informal direction from the leadership to see that every Mandal president is below 40 years of age.