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Ahead of Madhya Pradesh elections, BJP asks cadre to set aside differences
The BJP has been in power in the state since 2005, with Shivraj Singh Chouhan as CM, but was ousted for 15 months in 2018, only to make a comeback in 2020.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) high command has instructed leaders in Madhya Pradesh to set aside differences and come together as a cohesive unit to implement the electoral strategy that will be designed for the assembly elections scheduled for later this year.
The BJP has been in power in the state since 2005, with Shivraj Singh Chouhan as chief minister, but was ousted for 15 months in 2018, only to make a comeback in 2020.
According to functionaries aware of the details, the central leadership does not want a recurrence of events that led to the party losing the polls in 2018, when factionalism was identified as a major reason that derailed the party’s electoral preparations.
“Party president JP Nadda’s instructions are to ensure that rebels do not spoil the show; and senior leaders divided into camps do not work at cross purposes. Since there were reports of some friction between the CM and state unit president (VD Sharma) too, the central leadership wants the entire unit to be on the same page,” a party functionary said on condition of anonymity.
Nadda met the state leadership during his visit earlier this week.
“The party chief (Nadda) met some of the old timers, which was a message that everyone will have to join forces even if their suggestions on selecting candidates is not accommodated,” the functionary said.
Rebels spoiling the party’s chances at the hustings, as was the case in Himachal Pradesh recently, has emerged as a source of concern, and the central leadership has underlined that ticket distribution will be based on extensive deliberations on the merit of the candidate.
“Attempts are being made to ensure that those who do not get tickets do not cross over to other parties as it happened during the 2022 local body polls, when leaders who were earlier with the BJP either contested as Independents or joined other parties,” the functionary quoted above said.
The functionary cited the examples of Preeti Suri, who contested as an Independent to become the mayor of Katni and Rani Agarwal who quit the BJP to join the Aam Aadmi Party and became the mayor of Singrauli. Suri recently rejoined the BJP.
In his meeting with state leaders, Nadda underscored that the focus should be on schemes that have yielded results and are popular with the masses, such as the Ladli Behna Scheme which provides monthly assistance of ₹1,000 to women who are not income tax payees and their families’ annual income is below ₹2.50 lakh annually.
The party unit has been told to focus on increasing the voter turnout in constituencies where the margin of loss was slim; and ensure a wide difference in seats as well as voteshare between the Congress and the BJP.
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“In 2018, we (BJP) had 109 seats with a 41% vote share and the Congress had 114 seats with 40.9% vote share. This time, the target is to increase the vote share to 50% and reach out to the 30 lakh first time voters,” a second functionary said.
HT had earlier reported that the party will pivot the campaign on development in sectors of agriculture, infrastructure and implementation of welfare schemes.
