BJP steps up its poll prep, names 4 states' in-charges

The party has appointed election in-charges for Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Telangana

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday appointed election in-charges for Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Telangana that are scheduled to vote for new assemblies later this year, continuing the series of changes that started at the organisational level with new state chiefs being announced for four states on Tuesday, and which are expected to end with changes in the Union cabinet.

BJP supporters gather during Union Home Minister Amit Shah's rally ahead of Karnataka Assembly elections, in Yadagiri, Tuesday. (HT_PRINT)

Union minister Bhupender Yadav has been given charge of Madhya Pradesh and his cabinet colleague Ashwini Vaishnaw will be the co-incharge. Yadav, who has in the past overseen elections in Bihar and Gujarat will be supervising electioneering in the state where chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is facing anti-incumbency after being in power since 2005, except for a brief period between late 2018 and early 2020.

After the poll debacle in the last assembly election, the BJP is pulling out all stops to retain power in Madhya Pradesh. The BJP lost the 2018 polls but made a comeback after some Congress legislators, led by Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, joined the party.

In Rajasthan, where the election is expected to be a tight fight between the BJP and the incumbent Congress, Union minister Pralhad Joshi, has been appointed the election in-charge along with two co-in charges, former deputy CM of Gujarat, Nitin Patel and Haryana leader, Kuldeep Bishnoi. Hoping to make a comeback in the state, the BJP is targeting the Ashok Gehlot government on issues such as corruption, deficiencies in administration, minority appeasement and deterioration of law and order.

Former Union minister and senior party leader Prakash Javadekar has been made election in-charge of Telangana. He has in the past overseen elections in Rajasthan and Delhi. National general secretary, Sunil Bansal, who is credited for reviving the fortunes of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh will be the co-incharge for Telangana. Bansal is also incharge of the state where the BJP has set targets of increasing the vote share and the seats. This week, the party announced a new state president for the poll-bound state, replacing Bandi Sanjay with union minister G Kishen Reddy.

In Chhattisgarh, senior party leader, Om Prakash Mathur will be the party’s election in-charge and he will be assisted by Union minister Mansukh Mandaviya. While Mathur has been in charge of several state elections including Jharkhand in the past, Mandaviya was recently the co-incharge of elections in Karnataka.

The announcements came a day after a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and union home minister Amit Shah. While no details of the meeting were shared, on Friday functionaries of 14 states including Delhi, Haryana, UP, Jammu and Kashmir, and Himachal Pradesh met in the Capital to assess the preparations for the upcoming polls and to take stock of the work undertaken by the respective state units.

According to a functionary, each state gave a detailed presentation on the targets that have been set for the 2024 polls and the organisational work.