NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership is planning to groom a new set of leaders in the three states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh following electoral defeata there in the recently held Assembly elections.
The party has already made the former Chief Ministers of these states— Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Vasundhara Raje and Raman Singh—national vice-presidents in the organisation, clearly sending a message to the party cadre that their services would be utilised at the national level, while new leaders would take charge in the states. Sources said Chouhan and Raje were keen to become the Leaders of Opposition in their respective Assemblies, but the party leadership ruled out this option and Gopal Bhargava and Gulab Chand Kataria were given the posts in MP and Rajasthan Assemblies respectively. Similarly, Dharamlal Kaushik has been made the Leader of the Opposition in Chhattisgarh.
“Chouhan, Raje and Singh have been at the helm of affairs in their respective states. They provided stable governments during their tenure. But time has come to move on and groom new leaders there. Therefore, none of the three were given the Leader of Opposition post,” said a source. However, the source clarified, they would be star campaigners in their states during the coming Lok Sabha elections. Bhargava, a Brahmin, was chosen for the post in view of the resentment among the upper castes in MP after the Centre amended the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The party feels that by his appointment, and also after the 10% quota to general category, the anti-forward caste perception would be neutralized to a great extent. Interestingly, all the three Chief Ministers appointed since 2013—Uma Bharti, Babulal Gaur and Chouhan —were from the backward classes. Kataria, on the other hand, was Home Minister in the Raje government, but he was never in good terms with her. Kataria’s selection has clearly sent a message that the party leadership is not keen to carry on further with Raje in Rajasthan. However, at the same time, Rajendra Rathore, who is considered to be close to Raje, has been made the Deputy Leader of the party in the Assembly, as part of the balancing act. In Chhattisgarh too, the party leadership has opted for Kaushik, who is a Kurmi (OBC) leader. The party is hopeful that his appointment will help it get back the support of OBC voters and at the same time, it will neutralise Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, who is also a Kurmi.