BJP brings turncoats, ex-bureaucrats on board to meet its 400+ seats target

In 2019, there were about 75 candidates across parties who switched sides before the election, but at least 47 of them lost.

To meet the target of winning over 400 of the 543 Lok Sabha seats, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has made room for turncoats in its list of candidates from various states for the general election and is also banking on former bureaucrats to help increase its tally.

Former Congress leader Ravneet Singh Bittu (R) with BJP chief JP Nadda after joining the party in New Delhi on March 26. (ANI)

The party that typically favours dropping between 20-30% of the sitting lawmakers and legislators to buck anti-incumbency has been on an overdrive to induct newer faces from other political parties, especially those who have held positions in the government or organisation. It is not unusual for the party to induct and even field turncoats, even though the results are not always favourable, according to party leaders.

In 2019, there were about 75 candidates across parties who switched sides before the election, but at least 47 of them lost.

“This is a gamble; sometimes turncoats swing the election for the party and sometimes they fail by a wide margin, despite being recognised faces or popular leaders. Parties accommodate leaders who switch sides by giving them roles or tickets, because they are expected to transfer their support base (from the previous party to the new one) and if they do not get recognition and respect it alienates their supporters,” a functionary said, not wishing to be named.

In 2019, some prominent turncoats who failed to win were Shatrughan Sinha, who switched sides from the BJP to the Congress and lost his Patna Sahib constituency to BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad, Baijayant ‘Jay’ Panda, who quit the Biju Janata Dal to contest on a BJP ticket from Kendrapara in Odisha, and Manvendra Singh, who contested on a Congress ticket in Barmer in Rajasthan.

While the party’s long time workers are given the first preference for tickets, in the end it comes down to winnability, the BJP functionary said.

The BJP, which has so far announced 417 candidates for the election beginning April 19, has given tickets to some prominent names that shifted allegiance in recent weeks and months. Most of these are in states where the BJP is aiming to increase its vote share and tally, such as Telangana, Odisha, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh.

In the list of 11 names that was announced on Saturday, the party has fielded at least four turncoats. Six-term MP Bhartruhari Mahtab, who quit the Biju Janata Dal to join the saffron outfit on Thursday, has been fielded from Cuttack. In Punjab, the party has given tickets to former Congress MP Ravneet Singh Bittu from Ludhiana, Sushil Kumar Rinku, the lone MP from Aam Admi Party from Jalandhar and Preneet Kaur, also an ex-Congress MP, from Patiala. All three have recently joined the BJP.

“The party considers the political clout of the leaders, their hold over a caste or a community and their popularity among the people, which is what happened in deciding the names of these leaders who were inducted recently. They are expected to deliver,” the functionary said.

To be sure, turncoats have also been fielded in strongholds states such as Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. In Gujarat, the party has fielded Shobhana Baraiya, wife of former Congress MLA Mahendra Baraiya, from Sabarkantha, and Chandu Shihora from Surendranagar. Last week, supporters of party leader Bhikhaji Thakor took to the streets in Modasa in Gujarat against the party’s decision to give a ticket to Baraiya from Sabarkantha.

In Uttar Pradesh, which sends 80 lawmakers to Parliament, the party has been securing alliances and bringing leaders from the opposition on board. The party has given tickets to former Congressmen Jitin Prasad and Kripashankar Singh, who joined in 2021.

In Haryana, where the BJP-Jannayak Janta Party alliance has come undone, there are several new inductees who have been fielded as candidates, including Naveen Jindal from Kurukshetra, Ashok Tanwar from Sirsa and Ranjit Singh from Hisar.

In Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, where the BJP has not been able to secure a foothold, the party is relying on turncoats to shore up its performance. The party’s candidates include former Bharat Rashtra Samithi leaders in Telangana and in Andhra Pradesh it’s a mix of leaders from the Telegu Desam Party, Congress and YSR Congress Party.

The party has also fielded former diplomats and bureaucrats in the elections. “Former government officials do not carry any baggage. They are largely not tied down to caste or linguistic considerations, although these do work in their favour. Since Atal ji’s time (former Prime Minister Atal Bihar Vajpayee), there have been bureaucrats and technocrats in the government and they are considered as valuable additions to the polity,” said a second party functionary, also requesting anonymity.

In 2019, the party fielded former Indian Foreign Service officer Hardeep Puri and former Indian Administrative Service officers RK Singh and Satpal Singh. This time, it is banking on former Indian ambassador to the US, Taranjit Singh Sandhu, to wrest Amritsar. It has also fielded former Indian Police Service officer Debashish Dhar from Birbhum, Pranat Tudu, a government doctor, from Jhargram and former high court judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay from Tamluk, all in West Bengal.