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How BJP plans to use the issue of corruption in MP, Rajasthan, Telangana polls
Corruption and dynastic politics will be mainstay of BJP’s campaigns in opposition-ruled states, according to two leaders who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The opposition’s ‘40% sarkara’ jibe against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) regime in Karnataka that cost the party the state elections has now become a template for its campaign in the upcoming elections in a clutch of states, including Rajasthan, Telangana and Madhya Pradesh.
While it is going all out to accuse the Congress and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) governments in Rajasthan and Telangana, respectively, of corruption, in Madhya Pradesh, which goes to the polls alongside these two states, the BJP will pull out all the stops to defend its government against charges of corruption and irregularities.
Corruption and dynastic politics will be the mainstay of the campaigns in the opposition-ruled states, according to two leaders who spoke on condition of anonymity.
In Madhya Pradesh, where the BJP is in power and expects the Congress to double down on its attacks against the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government, the strategy is to aggressively defend its performance.
“Offence is the best form of defence,” said a leader, referring to the party’s decision to file a complaint against Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi for alleging that a “50% commission” had to be paid for contracts in the central Indian state.
Conscious of the impact that Gandhi’s statement could have in the state, where the BJP government faces anti- incumbency after being in power since 2005, barring 15 months in 2018, the party has filed complaints and will launch a media campaign to publicise the achievements of the government.
“The 15-months of Kamal Nath’s rule were marred by inertia in framing policies and implementing those on the ground. And it was during that time when people had to face corruption and commission,” the leader quoted above said. The media campaign the party is preparing will have a component on “Kamal Nath’s misrule”, the leader said.
In Telangana, where the BJP has been attacking the ruling BRS on a host of issues, from promoting family dominated politics to failing to meet elections promises such as free housing for the poor, party leaders have made corruption the centrepiece of its campaign.
Last month, while addressing a public function in the state, Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the party’s attack against chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao, dubbing his government “the most corrupt in the country”.
“The government’s long list of scams and corruptions extend beyond the boundaries of the state; look at the Delhi excise policy scam. The KCR family’s (alleged) links to the policy are well known,” said a second leader.
Stepping up pressure on the BRS government, the new state president and union minister G Kishan Reddy alleged that the BRS government failed to deliver the two-room houses it had promised the poor.
Protests and campaigns will mark the party’s electioneering in Telangana, and Congress-ruled Rajasthan. The party will focus on “crimes against women and minors in addition to irregularities in recruitment process”, a third leader said, requesting anonymity. There have been as many as “16 instances of paper leaks” in the state, he said.
Former Rajasthan minister Ram Chandra Gudha’s sensational claims of a “red diary” that has the details of the alleged corruption in the Rajasthan Cricket Association election has given the BJP further ammunition to train its guns on the Ashok Gehlot government.
