Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Dec 6: The BJP Members of Parliament who successfully contested the just-concluded elections to the state Assemblies have opted to shift to their respective states. Ten of the 12 BJP MPs who have been elected to the Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh state Assemblies on Wednesday submitted their resignations from Parliament.
The two who have not yet resigned – Baba Balaknath from Rajasthan’s Alwar and Renuka Singh from Chhattisgarh’s Sarguja – are expected to do so shortly.
Among those resigned from Parliament were union ministers Narendra Singh Tomar and Prahlad Patel and they are due to step down from the Narendra Modi cabinet too. Prahlad Patel, who is, for now, Minister of State for Food Processing, said “I have resigned as MP and will resign from cabinet soon.” The resignations were procedural since the Constitution does not allow an individual to function both as a Member of Parliament and Legislative Assembly of a state.
The resignations by the sitting MPs have strengthened the speculation that they were in the race for the post of chief minister of their respective states. Their resignations have ramped up speculation the party could make these announcements shortly, perhaps later Wednesday or by Thursday, including in Madhya Pradesh where the BJP sources said the party might look for the new face.
Amidst buzz that the party’s central leadership may not give him the fifth term, the four-time MP chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said he was “never in the race” for the chief minister’s post even the first and was not hankering for the chair this time either, but dropped enough hints to remind the central leadership that it was his government’s welfare schemes that had given the BJP the massive victory it recorded, having won 163 seats in 230-member Assembly reducing the Congress, which hoped to turn the table this time, to mere 66 seats.
A nearly five-hour meeting, attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah and party boss JP Nadda, was held at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home in Delhi on Wednesday to consider the chief minister’s choice in the three states including Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh where so far the Congress was in power.
The BJP had fielded 21 MPs including five union ministers across the five elections held last month. The party had fielded seven MPs each in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, four in Chhattisgarh, and three in Telangana. None of the BJP’s big faces in Telangana managed a win; the party itself was routed in the southern state, winning just eight of the 111 seats it contested, and left watching as the Congress scored big. Three BJP MPs lost in Rajasthan, two in Madhya Pradesh, and one in Chhattisgarh.
Some of the (now ex-) BJP parliamentarians fielded, apart from Mr Tomar and Mr Patel, were Baba Balaknath, Diya Kumari and Kirori Lal Meena in Rajasthan, and Vijay Baghel in Chhattisgarh. The trio from Rajasthan won their seats but Mr Baghel – up against his uncle and outgoing Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel – lost.
The BJP also fielded two union ministers in Chhattisgarh – Renuka Singh and Gomti Sai. Ms Singh won from Bharatpur-Sonahat and Ms Sai from Pathalgaon. The only union minister who failed to make the grade was Faggan Singh Kulaste, the Minister of State for Tribal Development. He lost from Madhya Pradesh’s Niwas seat.
The Congress also fielded MPs, including and Revanth Reddy and Uttam Kumar Reddy in Telangana. Both won their respective seats and the party now has 14 days to decide which seat each will hold. In the case of Revanth Reddy the choice has been made; the 56-year-old, who won the Kodangal seat, will be sworn in as the new Chief Minister on Thursday, meaning he too will resign his MP seat.
A similar logic is likely at play within the BJP in Rajasthan, where Baba Balaknath, Kirori Lal Meena, and Diya Kumari among the seven big names in the race to succeed Ashok Gehlot to the top post. In Madhya Pradesh, Mr Patel and Mr Tomar are in the race to head the government.
Apparently disheartened over the possibility of a “new face” heading the MP government, Mr Chouhan appeared to send a message to the party leadership without really pushing his case. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday during an event in Bhopal to mark the death anniversary of BR Ambedkar, the architect of the Constitution, Mr Chouhan said, “I paid tributes to Dr BR Ambedkar. The BJP government is following the path shown by him, under the leadership of Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi, we are working for the welfare of the last person in society.” The remark was seen by many as a subtle attempt by the Chief Minister to remind the party leadership of how his government’s welfare schemes such as Ladli Behna played a key role in winning the election for the BJP.
In an interaction with reporters on Tuesday also he had said his next goal was to ensure the BJP’s victory in all 29 Lok Sabha seats in the general election next year. The BJP won 28 out of the 29 seats last time, apparently resigned to the fate that he might be asked to take care of the party leaving the government job.
Careful to not be seen as lobbying for the top post, Mr Chouhan has stayed away from Delhi. “I am not going to Delhi. Tomorrow, I will go to Chhindwara where we were not able to win all the 7 seats of Vidhan Sabha. I have only one resolution: the BJP should win all 29 seats of Madhya Pradesh in the Lok Sabha elections. We want to prepare a garland for Prime Minister Modi. It will be made of 29 lotuses that we present to him when he becomes Prime Minister again,” he had said.