BJP to make CM from backward class

To reach out to politically important Dalits and Mahadalits in Bihar Assembly polls, the BJP said the chief minister candidate of the NDA coalition will be from backward or most backward classes despite the party officially not declaring its mascot and contesting the polls on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his development agenda.

The BJP opted to project its collective leadership under the star campaigner Modi to avoid heart burns among the aspirants within the party. For this reason, the BJP has officially not declared its poll mascot – a strategy it had followed in Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand. Union Minister Giriraj Singh told reporters that either a Yadav or a backward or a most-backward leader will become chief minister if the NDA comes to power in the state. The Bhumiar BJP leader, who is among the contenders for the top seat, pitched for projecting a leader from the backward and most-backward classes to counter rival grand alliance of JDU-RJD-Congress strategy to convert this election into forwards versus backwards. 

JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar and RJD chief Lalu Prasad have raised RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s call for reviewing caste-based reservation to stoke fear among the socially and economically have-nots that quota will be abolished if the NDA comes to power.

Singh’s statement was seconded by party state chief Mangal Pandey in Patna who said that the Union minister conveyed the BJP’s sentiments.

BJP sources said the party realises that they do not have a state leader to match rival chief minister Nitish Kumar who walked out of the NDA coalition over differences on Modi’s projection as PM candidate much ahead of 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

The absence of a face in the NDA ahead of polls is a drag on the coalition’s prospects, reveal some of the opinion polls catapulting Nitish Kumar as the most favoured choice for the CM post.

At least two– the India Today Group-Cicero and India TV-C-Voter – pre-poll surveys gave advantage to grandalliance for projecting Nitish Kumar as their CM candidate. 

TV poll survey
The India TV poll survey in fact projected that 53 per cent favoured making Nitish Kumar as CM, while BJP leader Sushil Modi was way behind at 18 per cent and only 5 per cent wanted RJD chief Lalu Prasad.

Though NDA allies LJP and RLSP have expressed their desire to project their leaders  Ram Vilas Paswan and Upendra Kushwaha, the CM will from the BJP if it returns to power.
The BJP is carpet bombing the campaigning with over 20 rallies of Modi in the five-phased polls, starting with one in Banka on October 2.