BJP central leadership likely to steer campaign for polls in Madhya Pradesh
Besides deciding the poll planks and issues that will be central to the campaign, the central high command will also take a call on whether to project chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan as the face of the election
NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party’s central leadership will steer the party’s election campaign in Madhya Pradesh, where anti-incumbency against chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has emerged as a cause of concern, said people aware of the details.
Besides deciding the poll planks and issues that will be central to the campaign, the central high command will also take a call on whether to project Chouhan as the face of the election, as is done in states with an incumbent chief minister, the people said, seeking anonymity.
Chouhan has been the chief minister in the state since 2005 and was ousted from power for 15 months when the party lost the 2018 assembly polls, only to return in 2020 when over a dozen Congress legislators, led by Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, joined the party.
“Even though he is the party’s most recognisable face in the state with a track record of having delivered welfare schemes, and popular among the women and the backward castes, the feedback from the ground suggests that people, particularly the young, prefer a change,” a party functionary said.
Since the central leadership will take a call on whether Chouhan will be the face of the polls along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is the BJP’s most bankable crowd puller and popular leader, the schedule for the chief minister’s Jan Ashirwad Yatra (people’s blessings campaign) has not been drawn.
“The PM is a force multiplier and incumbent CMs in their own way lend weight to the campaign through mass outreach programmes. Since there is a fatigue factor that has come to be associated with the CM, the party will find a way to use his strengths to the maximum, even as newer faces will also be pushed to the frontline,” the functionary said.
The party will bank on Chouhan in areas where his popularity remains undented, such as in parts of Mahakaushal. “In areas such as Bundelkhand, where anti-government sentiment is comparatively stronger, the party will bank on other leaders,” the functionary said.
The party is also betting on his image as a grassroots politician who hits the ground running in a crisis to draw a comparison between him and Kamal Nath of the Congress. “Kamal Nath is not seen as a foot soldier and that is where Chouhan scores over him,” a second functionary said. “Chouhan is also a good communicator and has an image of running a welfarist government.”
The issue of leadership apart, the BJP is banking on the social welfare measures of the state and central governments; schemes tailored for women such as the Mukhya Mantri Ladli Behna Yojna that transfers ₹1,000 into the accounts of eligible women; and the increased budgetary allocation for schemes for scheduled castes and tribes that together make up for about 38% of the state’s population.
The party is hopeful that the increased allocation for backward classes, minorities, nomadic and semi-nomadic communities announced in the annual budget will help woo the communities that had drifted away in 2018, resulting in the BJP facing losses in SC and ST seats. It had won only 16 of the 47 seats reserved for STs and losing 25 of 82 seats reserved for SCs.
“The appointment of Bhupendra Yadav, an OBC leader, as the election in-charge and Ashwani Vaishnaw as the co-in-charge is expected to help the party improve its outreach among the OBCs and the general category castes,” the first leader said.