BJP’s central leadership is turning towards regional satraps

With the political clock ticking for the Lok Sabha elections, Narendra Modi and Amit Shah could be forced to sing the tune of ‘cooperative federalism’ in party affairs to get on board powerful satraps.

Following the recent developments in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) one gets the feeling that the party’s central leadership, controlled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, is changing from within and becoming more accommodating of other tall leaders within the party. Is it a sign of the Modi-Shah duo loosening its iron grip over the world’s largest party?

The recent appointment of B S Vijayendra as Karnataka’s party chief is a sign of this accommodation. It must not be forgotten that Vijayendra’s father B S Yeddyurappa was replaced as Chief Minister in 2021, and since then BJP's tallest leader in the southern states was believed to be sidelined by the central leadership. Now, after the poll debacle in May, the central leadership in a way has backpedalled. That Vijayendra has replaced Nalin Kumar Kateel, who is believed to be a detractor of Yeddyurappa, adds credence to the above views.

The move amid assembly polls in five states is not a solitary one. In October first week, Modi declared in Rajasthan that the ‘Lotus’, the party symbol, would be the face of the BJP. It was meant to convey that no chief ministerial candidate would be projected or promoted during campaigning. The message was that former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje was being sidelined.

Similar was the story in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh where the party’s longest-serving Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was humiliated by announcing his candidature in the third list. The message from the central leadership was that Chouhan’s days were numbered, and that he must prepare for the Margdarshak Mandal. To further sideline Chouhan and reduce his chances if the party were to win the state again, Union ministers considered close to the central leadership were fielded from different constituencies.

Interestingly, as the campaigning progressed, the BJP’s calculations to fight the polls without a chief ministerial face and fielding several Union ministers and MPs from Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan appear to have floundered. Campaigning in the two key states showed that there was much fight left in both Chouhan and Raje, and none of the other leaders had the reach and pan-state appeal the two state leaders had.

Clearly the efforts to marginalise Chouhan and Raje within the party during the campaign have not worked. It will be interesting to see how intra-party equations play out after the results are announced on December 3; much will depend on the number of seats the BJP wins — which will determine the political relevance of the two state leaders.

These abovementioned developments within the BJP are important because the Modi-Shah style of functioning is alien to such compromises. This accommodation can also be seen as a sign of the central leadership model weakening. The assembly election results, if it does not go in the BJP’s favour, could widen these cracks, and amplify the voice of dissident leaders within the BJP.

Along with Chouhan, Union minister Nitin Gadkari was removed last year from the BJP’s central parliamentary board. Gadkari is also a man to watch out for. Despite being known to be among the few competent and articulate ministers in the Modi dispensation, Gadkari, who is also a former BJP chief, has been sidelined in the party both at the national level and in his home turf of Maharashtra.

With the political clock ticking for the Lok Sabha elections, Modi and Shah could be forced to sing the tune of ‘cooperative federalism’ in party affairs to get on board powerful satraps. Karnataka has shown the way to the disgruntled leaders. The BJP leadership is on the back foot, irrespective of what is being projected.

(Sunil Gatade and Venkatesh Kesari are senior journalists)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.