BJP's leadership changes in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand explained

Ahead of the Assembly elections in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, which are due to take place in December this year, the recent decision of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to appoint former chief ministers Vasundhara Raje and Raman Singh as national vice-presidents indicates that the two senior leaders of the party may not get any role in the state.

Senior BJP leaders believe the party has initiated a generational shift in these election-bound states, and their view is that the BJP must use the opportunity to look for new leaders in these two states.

“The BJP leadership has initiated a generational shift in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. The party has decided that the upcoming Assembly elections will be contested under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and there will be a collective leadership of all leaders in Rajasthan. The BJP leadership is in no mood to announce a chief ministerial candidate. Instead, there will be different committees for election management,” said a senior BJP leader in the know.

Space to experiment in Rajasthan

BJP members believe that the electoral situation in Rajasthan is in favour of the BJP, and the party is in a position to experiment because the Congress under Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot is facing anti-incumbency, and the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is immense in the state.

“Going by the recent history of Rajasthan, the people of the state change the state government every five years. So, this time, the BJP has a chance to form government. The Congress government is facing anti-incumbency, and people want to vote for change. The people of Rajasthan have always supported PM Modi; so, we believe the time is right to initiate a generational change in leadership in the state, and we are confident that people will support PM Modi,” the BJP leader added.

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BJP leaders further said the timing of the decision to finalise members of the national team was interesting because it conveyed a message that the BJP will not announce a chief ministerial candidate in both these states and that the party is looking for new faces for the Assembly elections.

This decision suggests that senior leaders of the BJP are of the view that former chief ministers like Raman Singh and Vasundhara Raje are better suited for a national role, which is why both have been made vice-presidents of the BJP. “The decision also means that the BJP is looking for new leadership, new faces, and younger leaders in these two states,” said a senior BJP leader on the condition of anonymity.

The BJP leadership thinks it’s the right time for a change of guard in Rajasthan because Raje has been given a national role in the party while another senior leader and former home minister, Gulab Chand Kataria, was made Governor of Assam in February this year.

“Kataria’s appointment as the Governor of Assam was the first step towards generational change. It is possible that Vasundhara Raje could still be made head of the election management committee or campaign committee, but the mood in the party is not to announce a CM face,” the BJP leader added.

Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh: Eye on tribal voters

Among the recent appointments within the BJP national team, former chief minister of Jharkhand Raghubar Das was also made the national vice-president. Party president JP Nadda’s decision to bring Das to the national team indicates a change in strategy for the party in both Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.

Interestingly, both Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh are tribal-dominated states; yet the BJP chose to make non-tribal leaders like Raghubar Das and Raman Singh, respectively, the chief ministers of the states. However, in the first week of July, the BJP’s central leadership announced the name of former chief minister Babulal Marandi as the president of the Jharkhand unit.

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Das and Singh’s shift from state politics to a national role and the appointment of Marandi as state president suggest that the BJP is yet again trying to woo the state’s tribal voter base, which supported Chief Minister Hemant Soren in the 2019 assembly polls.

To further bolster its tribal outreach in Jharkhand, the BJP leadership is keen on projecting Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda as the chief ministerial face of the party in Jharkhand when the state goes to polls in December 2024, a few months after the general elections.

“As far as Jharkhand is concerned, the BJP leadership is clear that Arjun Munda is the possible chief ministerial face of the party. He is a young tribal leader; he also has a national role as a Union minister and was earlier the chief minister of Jharkhand. So, the party believes that Munda is the frontrunner for the top post,” the BJP leader said.

Message to senior leaders

Political analysts believe that the BJP leadership has tried to send two messages to the three chief ministers who have been given a national role. The first message is that the party will continue to use their experience in electoral politics and governance at the national level, and second, since these leaders lost the election the last time, maybe it is time for them to step out of state politics.

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“The message is clear for these leaders. The BJP leadership is telling these three chief ministers that their experience is of immense value to the party and they will be needed for national politics. The BJP is also trying to convey to them that they should probably concentrate on their national role rather than being part of state politics,” said Ashutosh Kumar, political science professor at Panjab University.