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BJP’s national leaders to oversee upcoming local elections in several states
According to a second party functionary, the BJP wants to spare no effort to emerge as the single largest party as it wants to be seen as the “only credible option”
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is pulling out all the stops for the upcoming local elections and has deputed its senior leaders to oversee preparations for them in Telangana and Jammu & Kashmir. Local elections will also be held in Kerala in December though the party is yet to announce the in-charge for them.
On Wednesday, BJP’s national general secretary Bhupendra Yadav was in Hyderabad to hold the first round of meetings to steer the party‘s campaign for the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation polls. Yadav, who is also a Rajya Sabha MP, was in charge of the recently concluded assembly elections in Bihar, where the party won 72 seats and retained power with its National Democratic Alliance allies.
Apart from Yadav, junior finance minister Anurag Thakur has also been deputed to oversee the local polls in Jammu & Kashmir.
The appointments of senior leaders such as Yadav, who was earlier also in-charge of the Gujarat elections, and Thakur is seen as an indication of the BJP’s determination to expand its footprint to the regions where it is still not considered a key player. Thakur will be assisted by former Union minister Shahnawaz Hussain and lawmaker Sanjay Bhatia.
“These elections are crucial because these are regions where the party hopes to establish itself as a serious contender,” said a party functionary, who did not wish to be named.
The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation elections will be held on December 1. The BJP, which is in a celebratory mood after winning the bypoll to Telangana’s Dubbak assembly constituency, is hoping to carve out space for itself in the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS)’s bastion.
Yadav said the party is serious about contesting the local elections as it wants to strengthen its presence on the ground.
“Telangana is a state where the BJP will form the government. The TRS has misruled the state and people are looking for a change. There are about 27 assembly constituencies and four Lok Sabha constituencies that fall under the... [Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation] and we want to give a good governance model to the people. By giving good governance at the local body level, democracy becomes effective at the grassroots level,” he said.
The BJP last month contested the local body elections in Ladakh, where it failed to maintain its previous record. In 2015, the BJP won 18 out of the 26 seats in the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council. It retained only 15 of these in 2020. The Congress improved its tally by winning nine seats, four more than the previous election.
The local body elections in Jammu & Kashmir later this month are being held after the nullification of Article 370. They are crucial for the party as it will be up against a coalition of seven regional parties known as the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD).
According to a second party functionary, the BJP wants to spare no effort to emerge as the single largest party as it wants to be seen as the “only credible option”.
“The narrative peddled by the regional parties has to change. They have been part of the democratic space and yet speak the language of secession or treating Jammu & Kashmir as separate from the rest of India, which is unacceptable,” said the second functionary.
On Tuesday, Union home minister Amit Shah lashed out at the PAGD for allegedly seeking help from other counties to restore Article 370 that gave the erstwhile state special status.
Political commentator Sandeep Shastri said the BJP’s strategy of having senior leaders helm local elections is a reflection of the fact that the party is geared 24X7 to challenge its opponents.
“The distinction is clear. While the opposition seems to have lost the appetite to win, the BJP has the hunger to come to power at all levels.”
