Chhattisgarh, MP appointments show BJP focus on caste balance ahead of LS polls

With an eye on the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has picked two new faces as the chief ministers of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, even though it took the party more than a week to decide on the names.

On Monday (December 11), Mohan Yadav’s name was announced for the post of Madhya Pradesh chief minister after the BJP legislative party meeting was held in Bhopal. Apart from Yadav, who belongs to the dominant Other Backward Classes (OBC) community, it was also decided that Jagdish Devda and Rajendra Shukla would be appointed as the deputy chief ministers of the state and former Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar will become the new Speaker of the Assembly.

Generational change

Yadav’s selection as the new chief minister has initiated a generational change in Madhya Pradesh, as new leaders are given the opportunity to lead the state and the legislative party. This appointment ends the nearly-four-term tenure of Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who took over as the chief minister in November 2005.

The BJP has also used the recent Assembly election outcome to initiate a similar generational change in Chhattisgarh, by appointing Vishnu Deo Sai as the chief minister designate on Sunday (December 10).

“Mohan Yadav will play a role in taking forward the development journey of Madhya Pradesh,” said Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who was appointed as the observer for the legislative party meeting.

During the meeting, Yadav’s name was announced by Shivraj Singh Chouhan and supported by former Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar and Prahlad Singh Patel, who recently resigned from the Union council of ministers.

Maintaining caste balance

With less than five months to go for the 2024 general elections, the BJP’s decision is an attempt to consolidate its position in Madhya Pradesh. The appointment of an OBC leader as the new chief minister will help the saffron party strengthen its hold on the dominant community in the central state.

Senior BJP leaders believe that Devda, who belongs to the Scheduled Caste (SC) community, and Rajendra Shukla, a Brahmin, will help the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls, as representatives of all dominant caste groups have been accommodated in the decision-making process.

At the same time, Tomar’s appointment as the Speaker will help the BJP continue its hold on the Rajput community. The 29 Lok Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh hold significant import in the BJP’s plan for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, as the party would try to repeat its performance in the 2019 and 2014 general elections, when it won a majority of the seats in Madhya Pradesh.

“It is only the BJP which can give such a big responsibility to a small worker. I thank the state leadership and the central leadership. I will take forward the development works of PM Modi,” Yadav said after the meeting.

Focus on tribals

The strategy to change the state leadership and consolidate voters in favour of the BJP has been initiated not only in Madhya Pradesh but also in Chhattisgarh, where the BJP has picked a tribal as the chief minister of the state for the first time.

After the 15-year tenure of Raman Singh, who lost the Assembly election in 2018, the BJP has appointed Vinod Deo Sai as the new chief minister. The BJP’s decision to appoint a tribal leader at the helm of affairs has also been witnessed in Jharkhand, where the BJP has appointed Babulal Marandi as the party president.

To further strengthen its political and social base in Chhattisgarh, the BJP has decided to appoint two deputy chief ministers here as well. However, their names are yet to be finalised. Senior BJP leaders believe that one of the deputies will be from the OBC community and the second will be a member of the upper caste.

Countering Opposition strategy

Political analysts believe the BJP’s decision to appoint an OBC leader as the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh is because of the 2024 elections and also to counter the strategy of the Opposition parties to talk about a caste census nationally.

“If we look at Madhya Pradesh, the CM is from the OBC community, and the deputy CMs are SC and Brahmin. The presence of Narendra Singh Tomar as Speaker will also help the BJP. The ruling party has tried to focus on four strong caste groups through these appointments. These changes will also help the BJP counter the Opposition’s narrative of caste census. It is all preparation for the 2024 general elections,” said Yatindra Singh Sisodia, professor and director of the Madhya Pradesh Institute of Social Science Research, Ujjain.

Sisodia also said the BJP is trying a similar caste combination in Chhattisgarh, too, to make it difficult for the Congress to bounce back in the two states during the Lok Sabha polls. Sisodia further said the BJP leadership is aware that it has to contest against the Congress in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, and Gujarat. So, it is trying to get the support of as many castes as possible before the general elections.

Possibility of Cabinet reshuffle

The recent appointments in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh indicate that the BJP leadership is contemplating a Cabinet reshuffle after the recent resignations of Narendra Singh Tomar and Prahlad Singh Patel from the Union council of ministers.

Senior leaders of the BJP believe that the central leadership may consider inducting Shivraj Singh Chouhan, former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, into the Union council of ministers or giving him a prominent post in the national BJP. Similarly, the BJP leaders also indicated that the possible induction of Dushyant Singh, son of Vasundhara Raje, cannot be ruled out to pacify the former chief minister of Rajasthan to give up her claim to the top post.