NEW DELHI, Mar 23: Showing signs of a possible rapprochement between the former Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje and the BJP high command, the party’s national president JP Nadda throwing a mild surprise appointed the Chittorgarh Member of Parliament CP Joshi, a Brahmin, as the party’s chief in Rajasthan on Thursday in the crucial state Assembly election year.
Joshi was one of the four chiefs of state units appointed by Nadda on Thursday. Besides Rajasthan, Odisha, Delhi and Bihar will also have new state BJP presidents.
Joshi is considered a mild mannered person, of an RSS background and with no particular allegiance to any faction, in the faction ridden unit of the party. He replaces Satish Poonia, who had a good run but was often seen to be at odds with Vasundhara Raje. Joshi’s appointment also gives air to the speculation that despite the Delhi leadership’s attempts to project other leaders of the state, Ms Raje has been able to maintain her substantial support base in the state and within the state unit of the BJP. It also comes after the appointment of senior Rajasthan BJP leader Gulab Chand Kataria, who could have been another contender for the chief minister’s position in the state, as governor of Assam, “Joshiji is an unexceptionable choice, and in an election year as party president he will be expected to take everyone along,” said a senior leader of the BJP.
If internal issues were the concern in Rajasthan and Bihar, Nadda has concentrated on getting caste arithmetic right by appointing current BJP legislative council leader Samrat Chaudhary as BJP Bihar chief and Manmohan Samal as Odisha BJP president.
In Bihar, the appointment of Chaudhary is aimed at consolidating the Kushwaha (non-Yadav OBC group) vote bank which has traditionally allied with Janata Dal (U). Kushwahas are an agricultural community having a large vote bank in dozens of districts of Bihar and second largest chunk after Yadavs in the OBC block. Chaudhary is the son of former Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Shakuni Choudhary, and had previously been in the RJD and the JD(U) as well before joining the BJP. The appointment of Chaudhary is a reaction to the JD(U)-RJD ruling alliance in the state which has cornered the OBC and minority votes. Interestingly, the state presidents of other political parties like RJD and Congress are upper caste – Jagdanand Singh and Akhilesh Prasad Singh respectively. However the JD(U) state president is from the same caste as Umesh Kushwaha.
In Odisha too, former state BJP president and former State Revenue Minister, has been appointed as president again. He too belongs to the OBC community, and had led the party in the state when the BJP and BJD alliance came to power in early 2000s, with his party clocking its highest ever tally in Assembly polls under his watch. His recent reappointment to the party president’s position is also a reward for working hard in Dhamnagar constituency in his home district of Bhadrak where the party had won by-elections in 2022. Among all current BJP leaders in Odisha, he is probably the senior most and experienced one. By making him President before 2024, the BJP seems to have shown its intent that the party is serious this time.
In Delhi, in keeping with the general view of maintaining status quo, acting president Virendra Sachdeva, who had replaced Adesh Gupta, has been appointed to a full tenure. Like in Rajasthan, the Delhi unit of the BJP is said to be faction ridden and Sachdeva is considered a safe pair of hands with organisational experience. Delhi BJP faces the formidable challenge posed by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and the party apparently has decided to go with the tried and trusted.
(Manas Dasgupta)