BJP's RS nominations: Clear signs of NDA expansion ahead of Lok Sabha polls

With only a couple of months to go for the all-important Lok Sabha elections, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is busy streamlining its party organisation and expanding the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) footprint.

As one of the steps towards this goal, the saffron party has nominated former Congress leader Ashok Chavan to the Rajya Sabha, merely a day after he quit the Congress and joined the BJP. Chavan is a powerful leader of the Maratha community, and his nomination ensures that the BJP will be able to boost its chances both in the parliamentary polls as well as in the Assembly elections in November this year.

Also, with the Maratha community up in arms over the demand for caste-based census and a share of the reservation pie, Chavan’s nomination can prove beneficial for the BJP.

“I want to express my gratitude to the top-tier leadership of the BJP for entrusting me with this opportunity. With this responsibility, I am committed to working towards fulfilling the needs of the people,” Chavan said after getting Rajya Sabha nomination on Wednesday.

Wooing the Marathas

Interestingly, after (Maharashtra Chief Minister) Eknath Shinde and (Deputy Chief Minister) Ajit Pawar, Chavan is the third prominent Maratha leader to join the NDA fold. Both the Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction and the Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) faction have joined hands with the BJP.

While the Maharashtra state government is planning to grant reservation to the Maratha community in the coming days, senior leaders of the BJP believe that the presence of Chavan, Ajit Pawar, and Shinde will help the party win over the electorally dominant Maratha community ahead of the polls.

Political analysts believe that the entry of Ashok Chavan into the BJP is “an attempt to micromanage the poll preparations of the BJP by inducting leaders from different parties”. But can these three Maratha leaders do the job for the BJP?

Sanjay Kumar, the co-director of Lokniti, the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), said: “While the BJP is facing pressure from the Maratha community on the issue of reservation, Ashok Chavan’s presence may not be able to solve the puzzle for the BJP because he is not the tallest Maratha leader in Maharashtra and he will have to compete with Sharad Pawar to compete for the Maratha voter base.”

BJD support

Ahead of the general elections, the BJP has also managed to get the support of Biju Janata Dal (BJD) yet again. Although the BJD is officially not a member of the NDA, it has supported the BJP in the passage of crucial Bills in Parliament and also backed Railway and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw for a second consecutive term to the Rajya Sabha.

“Biju Janata Dal (BJD) will support the candidature of Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, for the larger interest of State’s Railways and Telecom Development in the ensuing Election to Rajya Sabha — 2024,” BJD said in an official statement on Wednesday.

BJD’s support for Vaishnaw also ensures that the regional party, which is a former member of the NDA, will continue to support the BJP on crucial issues nationally.

Poll preparation

Making an exception for Vaishnaw and fellow Union minister L Murugan, who were nominated to the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday for second consecutive terms, the BJP leadership seems to have made it clear that the remaining seven union ministers, whose Rajya Sabha terms are ending in April, will have to contest the Lok Sabha elections.

Senior BJP leaders have already conveyed it to Union ministers Rajeev Chandrashekhar, Mansukh Madaviya, V Muraleedharan, Dharmendra Pradhan, Narayan Rane, and Bhupender Yadav to start preparing to contest the Lok Sabha polls. The Rajya Sabha tenure of all these ministers will end in April.

The BJP leadership has also made an exception for party president JP Nadda, who has been asked to contest the Rajya Sabha polls from Gujarat.

While Nadda was a member of the Rajya Sabha from Himachal Pradesh, the BJP has nominated him from Gujarat, as he has to lead the poll preparations for the party in the Lok Sabha elections, and the BJP does not want him to contest the Lok Sabha polls and get restricted to one constituency.