DONE WITH crucial Lok Sabha and Assembly elections this year, and wrapped up with the Winter Session of Parliament, the BJP is set to turn its attention to internal organisation elections, leading up finally to a new party chief by the end of February next year.
Currently, its state units are busy conducting elections for booth, district and division presidents. Soon, the central leadership will pick new state presidents, with at least half expected to get new chiefs. After that, the BJP would start the process to elect a new president.
Its spectacular performance in the Assembly elections in Haryana and Maharashtra means the BJP top brass goes into the selection process confident that its choice will carry weight. At the same time, having burnt its hands in the Lok Sabha polls when the RSS stayed away after remarks by BJP chief J P Nadda to The Indian Express that the party was now “saksham (capable)” on its own, the BJP will keep the RSS wishes in mind when it makes its pick.
The new president will also undoubtedly have the stamp of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the approval of Union Home Minister Amit Shah – with the current arrangement of the two having the final word in the BJP continuing. As per sources, what this means is that Modi will pick a person who has a strong organizational background and RSS support.
Post the Assembly results in Maharashtra and Haryana, where the BJP came back from behind to post impressive victories, on the back of the RSS’s vast grassroots network, there is a realisation on both sides of the benefits of working together.
Before the Modi-Shah dominance in the BJP again, the party leadership was known to turn to the RSS before every key decision. In 2014, the year that Modi became PM, Shah was made BJP president, though one of the RSS’s preferences for the post was Nadda. However, Shah’s role in stitching together the BJP-led NDA’s stunning victory, especially in the politically crucial Uttar Pradesh where the party won 73 of the 80 seats, settled the debate in his favour.
Nadda’s choice as the next BJP chief in 2020 also had RSS backing. But after that, with Modi returning to power in 2019 with an even bigger majority, the balance of power shifted, with the BJP leadership taking decisions that did not necessarily have the consent of the RSS leadership.
According to sources, apart from ensuring that both Modi-Shah and RSS are on the same page on the choice, the BJP leadership will bear in mind the caste factor when picking the new BJP chief. With Nadda a Brahmin and Modi an OBC, and with B R Ambedkar being the flavour of the season, the BJP could look for a Dalit face, sources said.
Led by a Dalit, Mallikarjun Kharge, the Congress has been building a rhetoric that the BJP is anti-Dalit – cashing in on this effectively in the Lok Sabha elections. In the wake of the row in Parliament over Shah’s remarks on Ambedkar, a Dalit chief may be the most effective way for the BJP to silence the Opposition.
However, leaders admitted the choice is limited when it comes to Dalit leaders with a strong organisational base and RSS backing. Among the top contenders in this case would be Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, party general secretary Dushyant Gautam and Uttar Pradesh minister Baby Rani Maurya.
A party leader said they are not ruling out that the choice may be a surprise. “Going by Modi ji’s past choices, he or she could be a low-profile leader and a confidant. Still, they should be a leader who can implement the ideas and programmes of the top leadership,” the leader said.
Another factor will be age, particularly as the Opposition ranks now boast of more youthful faces, such as Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in the Congress; Akhilesh Yadav in the Samajwadi Party; Abhishek Banerjee in the Trinamool Congress; and Tejashwi Yadav in the RJD. The BJP’s current leadership has faced criticism for failing to build a second-rung leadership, and the appointment of a young party chief would be a correction.
A party leader said they are not ruling out that the choice may be a surprise. “Going by Modi ji’s past choices, he or she could be a low-profile leader and a confidant. Still, they should be a leader who can implement the ideas and programmes of the top leadership,” the leader said.
Another factor will be age, particularly as the Opposition ranks now boast of more youthful faces, such as Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in the Congress; Akhilesh Yadav in the Samajwadi Party; Abhishek Banerjee in the Trinamool Congress; and Tejashwi Yadav in the RJD. The BJP’s current leadership has faced criticism for failing to build a second-rung leadership, and the appointment of a young party chief would be a correction.
