New Year Test for BJP: Party’s biggest challenge will be to ease out veterans, create a new leadership

Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the party has been trying to create a new leadership in states and at the national level. Although Brand Modi is still intact and has helped BJP sail through state elections, dents have surfaced when local issues dominate and when the party faces anti-incumbency in a state. Jharkhand and Himachal Pradesh are examples where the party suffered defeats because of anti-incumbency and local issues.

Another important factor is the transition within the party to give a chance to new leadership. It has been a winning strategy of PM Modi since his days as Gujarat CM to give a chance to at least 30-40% new faces in elections. In states like Gujarat and Uttarakhand, the party also changed its chief ministers to give a fresh look to the government.

This strategy worked to its advantage in Uttarakhand and Gujarat this year, but didn’t work out in Himachal where those who were denied tickets hurt the party’s prospects. The biggest challenge for the BJP in 2023 would be to ease out the veterans and create a new leadership without facing the trouble it faced in Himachal Pradesh.

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“2023 is important for BJP as it is a year before the Lok Sabha elections. Our organisational strength has increased manifold since 2014. The several central government schemes launched by the Modi government have reached almost 80% of the population. Through the work done under Modi and the strong organisation, we are going to achieve a bigger success in the 2023 (assembly) and 2024 Lok Sabha elections,” BJP general secretary Arun Singh told ET.

KARNATAKA

Karnataka is the first state which will face elections in four months and BJP has the challenge of retaining its government. When the baton is transferred from a tall leader to a new face, it takes time for any party to fill the vacuum created by the veteran while getting used to the new leadership. BS Yediyurappa is undoubtedly BJP’s stalwart credited with establishing the party in Karnataka. BJP has given an honourable exit by giving him a place in the party’s parliamentary board.

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The current CM Basavaraj Bommai has the challenge of managing different factions while leading the party to elections. There is already a demand for Cabinet expansion by certain leaders who have openly expressed their displeasure over this from time to time. However, the central leadership is confident of combining the synergies of Yediyurappa’s experience and tapping the appeal of new leaders in the upcoming elections

“As of now, we have an edge over Congress in Karnataka. Our CM Bommai has an image of a common man. Yediyurappaji is our biggest and most popular leader. Both are working together to deliver the best for BJP. There is no anti-incumbency. In the coming days, several leaders from other parties are going to join BJP,” Arun Singh, also the state BJP in-charge, added.

MADHYA PRADESH

Shivraj Singh Chouhan is the longest serving chief minister of the state. Many of his ministerial colleagues also have had long stints. There is an anti-incumbency against the government and the party lost some ground to Congress in the urban body elections. Post Gujarat elections, there has been a demand to adopt the Gujarat model where several veterans were replaced by new faces. In MP, the challenge is to manage MLAs and ministers who joined the party from Congress along with Jyotiraditya Scindia. The task in MP is bigger compared to other states. BJP is working hard to attract tribal and SC voters in the state.

RAJASTHAN

BJP believes that there is strong anti-incumbency against the existing Congress government. The infighting within Congress and the state’s tradition to change the government every five years gives BJP hope that it will win the assembly polls. The party hasn’t made any major gains in the bypolls in the past few years. The main challenge is to manage the factional politics in the state. The infighting between former CM Vasundhara Raje camp and current state president Satish Poonia camp have surfaced on several occasions. And there are also senior leaders such as leader of opposition Gulab Chand Kataria and deputy leader of opposition Rajendra Singh Rathor. The task for the party is to make use of all these leaders while taking care of their personal ambitions.

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“The Jan Aakrosh Yatra has got great response from the people and all BJP leaders have participated in the yatra. We are moving ahead with Jan Aakrosh Sabhas and there is no problem among the leaders as all want the party to win the election,” Arun Singh, who is also the incharge of Rajasthan, said.

CHHATTISGARH

Chhattisgarhis facing a situation similar to Karnataka. Three-time chief minister Raman Singh is now BJP national vice president, and the party is still trying to create a leader who can take on the Congress government in the state. BJP has completely rejigged the state leadership team over the past six months. In August, it appointed Arun Sao as the new state BJP president replacing Vishnu Deo Sai, a tribal. It made Narayan Chandel leader of the opposition in the same month. Both Sai and Chandel belong to the OBC community and the party now wants to focus on OBC votes to give a challenge to the OBC CM Bhupesh Baghel. In September, BJP replaced party in-charge D Purandeswari with a senior leader Om Mathur.

BIG B CHALLENGE

West Bengal and Bihar are not the election-going states but BJP has a new leadership for both the states. BJP recorded its best performance in West Bengal both in the Lok Sabha and assembly elections last time. The party became the main opposition in the state. However, several leaders who joined the party from Trinamool, headed back to Trinamool after the assembly elections in 2021. Post-2021, a lot of organisational churn happened in West Bengal. In August, the party replaced Kailash Vijayvargiya as incharge of the state with its most successful general secretary Sunil Bansal. In September, it appointed Mangal Pandey as the in-charge of the state working under Bansal, and Sukanta Majumdar replaced the state president Dilip Ghosh.

“The team of state president Sukanta Majumdar and leader of opposition Suvendu Adhikari is working fine. Ex-president Dilip Ghosh and Union ministers from the state are also working hard. Seven MLAs had left the party a year ago. But now, everyone is united, and we are focusing on strengthening our booth level presence for the upcoming panchayat elections.

In the Lok Sabha, we are determined to better our tally of 18 in 2024,” Mangal Pandey told ET.

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In Bihar, BJP is anxiously looking for a face who can put up a fight against the Nitish Kumarled grand alliance. The term of state BJP president Sanjay Jaiswal ended in September and the state unit is waiting for a new leader. BJP has also increased its earlier estimate of tough Lok Sabha seats in Bihar from four to ten after Nitish Kumar walked out of NDA. In September, BJP general secretary Vinod Tawde was made the incharge of the state and the party is enthusiastic post the recent bypoll win in Kurhani and Gopalganj.