Saini's choice as CM underlines BJP's concerted effort to consolidate OBC votes in Haryana and beyond

New Delhi: The BJP's decision to have a second OBC leader - Nayab Singh Saini - join its rank of 12 chief ministers marks its determined push to consolidate the community's votes and blunt the opposition's attempt to weaken its support base ahead of Lok Sabha elections.

Three months after the BJP made the surprise pick of Mohan Yadav to replace another Other Backward Classes (OBC) leader Shivraj Singh Chouhan as Madhya Pradesh chief minister, the party on Tuesday chose Saini, a first-term MP and its Haryana president, to take over from Manohar Lal Khattar.

Saini's appointment as Haryana chief minister aligns with a trend that has accelerated within the BJP following aggressive efforts by the Congress and its allies, such as the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh and the RJD in Bihar, to attract the OBCs - the largest and politically influential demographic, particularly in Hindi-speaking states. The Opposition push includes advocating for a caste census.

After its significant victory in three Hindi heartland states in December, the BJP replaced its four-term Chief Minister Chouhan with Yadav and appointed several other leaders from the OBC community and other traditionally disadvantaged sections, such as SCs and STs, as chief ministers and deputy chief ministers.

Vishnu Deo Sai, representing the ST community, assumed the role of Chhattisgarh Chief Minister, while one of his two deputies, Arun Sao, comes from the OBC community. In Madhya Pradesh, one of the two deputies to Yadav, Jagdish Devda, is a Dalit, as is Deputy Chief Minister Prem Chand Bairwa in Rajasthan.

While Chouhan hails from a backward community, Yadav belongs to a caste that is predominant in the states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. These states collectively hold 120 Lok Sabha seats and witnessed a sweeping victory for the BJP and its allies in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Yadavs have a sizeable presence in many other states as well.

The BJP had last year made Samrat Choudhary, a Kushwaha, its Bihar state president and further boosted his profile by making him one of its two deputy CMs in Bihar under Nitish Kumar.

Political observers note that Saini's eponymous caste holds a significant presence in various Hindi-speaking states. Additionally, Kushwahas and Malis, both belonging to backward castes, also associate themselves with this caste.

Yadav and Saini are also homegrown backward leaders within the BJP, having served extensively in various organizational capacities within the party. Their ascent through the party ranks positions them as the BJP's response to opposition OBC leaders like SP President Akhilesh Yadav and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, both heirs to influential political legacies.

While Rahul Gandhi has spearheaded the Congress' outreach to the OBC with the demand for a caste census, the Yadav satraps from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have been reaching out to different castes under the group to take on the BJP.

The BJP has sent Mohan Yadav to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar since he became chief minister to connect with his community, which forms a solid base of the SP and the RJD in these states respectively.

Saini is poised to emerge as another representative figure for the non-dominant OBC castes, whose backing has been pivotal to the BJP's ascendance in several states since Prime Minister Narendra Modi assumed power at the Centre in 2014.

Saini's appointment aligns with the BJP's strategy to promote a younger generation of leadership. Like Yadav and Rajasthan's CM Bhajan Lal Sharma, Saini is in his 50s, while Sai recently turned 60.

While Saini's assumption of the role of Haryana chief minister may aid the party in rallying non-Jat votes, as BJP leaders have suggested, there is hope that his influence will extend beyond the confines of the relatively small state.