NEW DELHI: The Assembly elections in Haryana, Maharashtra and Jharkhand are scheduled for October-November this year. For this, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s election strategy is set to undergo significant changes. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is actively involved in shaping the issues and will play a role in ticket distribution. It has been broadly decided that the current Chief Ministers will be the faces of the BJP’s campaigns in Haryana and Maharashtra, while in Jharkhand, the party will seek votes in the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah will lead the campaign efforts in all three states, with Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan taking on additional responsibilities in Haryana. The BJP plans to adopt an election strategy in Haryana and Maharashtra similar to that used in Madhya Pradesh in last year’s Assembly elections.
In Maharashtra, the Eknath Shinde government has already released its budget, making several announcements aimed at attracting the youth and women voters, including schemes like Madhya Pradesh’s Ladli Behna scheme under different names.
Similarly, in Haryana, the incumbent BJP government is expected to announce monthly financial assistance for young men and women, similar to Ladli Behana Yojana, as well as additional support for farmers and sportspersons. These announcements are designed to be game changers in the upcoming elections.
The BJP is concerned about the multi-cornered contests in these states for several reasons. One major issue is the anti-incumbency sentiment that has built up over ten years of BJP governance. To address this, the party leadership replaced Manohar Lal Khattar with Nayab Singh Saini as the Chief Minister before the Lok Sabha elections. Saini will be the party’s CM face in the Assembly elections.
Another concern is the potential backlash from giving tickets to ministers and MLAs who have been winning from the same seats for a decade. The party will address this ticket issue later.
The Central government’s handling of the farmers’ and wrestlers’ movements last year has left lingering resentment among Jats and Sikhs. Additionally, the Agniveer scheme has negatively impacted the BJP’s image. In response, the states are attempting to regain support from disaffected youths by announcing reservations in police and paramilitary forces. Further announcements are expected soon to address the concerns of the youths and farmers.
Decisions regarding Haryana will be made this month and implemented immediately. Arun Kumar of the RSS is handling the responsibility from the Sangh side. In fact RSS’ entire focus will be on Haryana, because the BJP has a direct fight with the Congress only in Haryana. At other places, the parties of the I.N.D.I Alliance are in the main fight. BJP strategists know that Congress can be weakened if it is stopped from returning to power in Haryana for the third time. Haryana, which is adjacent to Delhi in the Hindi belt, is an important state which the BJP would not want to lose. Therefore, the main focus of the RSS and BJP is on appeasing the angry farmers, wrestlers, unemployed youth and the STs.
However, a multi-cornered contest is certain in Haryana. The BJP, the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party will be in the fray. Even the Samajwadi Party and the Trinamool Congress may join the electoral battle. Then there is the alliance of INLD and BSP. Dushyant Chautala’s Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) will take up the fight separately.
The party is also making a strategy for the Dalit voter who seems to be leaning towards the Congress. There are indications that Congress can be cornered on caste politics and pressure can be put on the Congress to make a Backward the CM face. Congress is still hopeful of getting the Jat vote, but if Rahul Gandhi’s caste politics becomes an issue in Haryana, then the Jats may get divided.