BJP’s election plan in pipeline for Rajasthan, MP, Chhattisgarh

New Delhi: The BJP has started chalking out strategy for Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh in view of the next year’s Assembly elections. The MPs have been asked to start coordinating with the state organizational units immediately in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. In Madhya Pradesh, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has also started streamlining what will ensure proper coordination between the government and organisation. He has already held a meeting with MPs in Delhi. The task is to publicise among the people the various welfare schemes of the Modi government and achievements of the BJP-ruled states. Similarly, the BJP is assigned the task to expose the “weaknesses” of the Congress governments in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. The BJP units have already started launching attacks on the Congress regimes. After the resounding win in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP is keen to contest polls in these three states banking on the popularity of PM Narendra Modi. At the same time, UP CM Yogi Adityanath will also be in an important role during the polls.
Sources say that the BJP will not project any CM face in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, while in MP the scene is not clear about the fate of CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan. However, Chouhan has already got into action mode in view of the polls.
The last elections in MP were fought under Chouhan’s leadership, but the BJP could not form the government then. He was made CM only after the party got the power as a result of a split in the ruling Congress. Jyotiraditya Scindia, who was the CM face from the Congress in 2018, had played an important role in Congress’ departure from power. Now, he is in the BJP and has been given a Cabinet post in PM Modi’s team. He was also allocated 27, Safdarjung Road residence where he had spent his childhood.
Scindia has now strengthened his position in the BJP as well as the Sangh. He is also quite active in the politics of the BJP in MP. It will be too early to say whether the party will project Scindia as CM candidate or will retain Chouhan in this position in the 2023 elections in MP. However, the party will bring some clarity on this issue in days to come. Undoubtedly, Chouhan has made a record of being the longest serving CM of BJP. But the UP victory will have its impact on the politics of MP and Rajasthan.
The BJP is divided into two factions in Rajasthan. The state BJP unit is being led by Satish Punia who is busy strengthening the party and coordinating with MPs and the Centre. Punia is working hard to consolidate party’s position in the state. Hitting hard at the Congress government in Rajasthan over Karauli communal riots, the BJP has signaled that it is going to adopt an aggressive strategy against the present regime in the state. Former Union minister Rajya Vardhan Singh Rathore hinted at it by accusing the Rajasthan government of doing appeasement politics.
The other faction of the BJP in Rajasthan belongs to national vice president and former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje who is said to be running a parallel system of the party. She is undoubtedly a powerful leader of the BJP. She has been chief minister of the state twice. Last time, the party under Raje’s leadership lost the elections despite the Modi wave. Raje’s loyalists want her to be projected as CM face again. But the BJP’s win in four states has changed the political equations in Rajasthan. The politics has undergone a drastic change with the BJP getting stronger and the Congress getting weaker.
There is no challenge to the high command as of now.
With this being the situation, the high command’s wish will be writ large in the BJP in Rajasthan. It is indicated that the BJP will go to polls without any CM face. Now, in the changed circumstances, Raje will try to manage her relations with the central leadership. She will avoid any kind of clash with the leadership. The state unit will also follow the instructions from Delhi. Indications are such that some MPs may be asked to fight assembly elections in Rajasthan and MP as these polls will be held six months before the parliamentary election. The BJP’s strategy for Rajasthan, MP and Chhattisgarh will be totally different from what it was in previous polls.