New BJP chief JP Nadda spells out target: 'Some states left, we have set our aim there'

As a relatively low profile, J P Nadda, quintessentially an organization man took over the presidency of BJP from the flamboyant Amit Shah for a three-year term which will last up to January 2023, crucial one year before next general elections, all eyes are on him on how does he groom the local leaders to maintain the BJPs’ forward march.

BJP, which had won just two Lok Sabha seats in 1984 and had only one shot of full term in power between 1999 and 2004 when its Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee led a hydra-headed coalition, won a record 303 seats 2019 in the leadership of Shah, improving upon BJP’s spectacular 282 seats performance in 2014 when Rajnath Singh was party chief.

But the challenges are galore. While a dip has been noticed in state elections including in Gujarat from where Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah hail post-Modi’s exit from the state politics, BJP’s star Chief Ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Madhya Pradesh), Raman Singh (Chhattisgarh) and Vasundhara Raje (Rajasthan) have been moved from state to central organizational politics of the BJP (all three appointed as party vice presidents) and an equally charismatic new leadership is yet to emerge in any of the three states.

On the positive side is BJP’s ideological expansion beyond its traditional strongholds up to North East and deep South and its membership drive clocking a figure of enrolled 18 crore this going much beyond its target of adding just 2.2 crore more to its existing strength of 11 crore membership. The last membership drive was concluded in 2015.

A soft-spoken Nadda is considered more accessible but will he be able to function out of the shadow of Shah, whose influence on BJP is now comparable what once Advani had irrespective of whoever was the party boss between 1998 to 2004. Enforcement of discipline at a time when the party is on a high is another challenge.

Shah’s immediate test will be on February when Delhi goes to polls. It’s a state, the BJP has not been able to win since more than two decades and lack of a charismatic face with grassroot connect ever since the demise of veterans former Chief Ministers Madanlal Khurana and Sahib Singh Verma is stated one of the prime reasons.

While Bihar could still give some heartwarming news to the BJP with the thaw in BJP-Nitish Kumar ties after the former accepting the latter’s leadership role, the 2021 elections in West Bengal in which BJP has put its stakes high campaigning big on CAA and NRC, could be a real challenge, where it recently failed to win even a single seat in bye-elections despite having won in 2019 Lok Sabha polls a whopping 18 Lok Sabha seats (nine times high from two it had won in 2014). In Tamil Nadu, which also goes to polls during the same year, the BJP has never been a big player.

Unlike Shah, who had a steely grip over the organization, Nadda is considered a consensus man, who does not burn many bridges.

"I will work day and night along with all the party workers to take the party to newer heights… There are some states left and we have set our aim there. We will make sure we reach to them as well,” Nadda said in his first remarks after taking over as party chief.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi while accusing “those having been rejected by the public in electoral politics” of spreading confusion underlined the need for BJP workers to reach out more actively to counter this and reminded them “BJP is not here for a short period.”