NEW DELHI In poll-bound Madhya Pradesh, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wants the electoral narrative to focus on development, strides made in sectors such as agriculture and power, and the success of welfare schemes to counter the perception of a “fatigue factor” against chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who has been in office since 2005, said people aware of the developments. The state will elect a new assembly later this year.
“The party leadership is aware of the perception that there is a fatigue factor vis-Ã -vis the chief minister, so the narrative will be focused on the work that the government has accomplished,” a party functionary said, seeking anonymity. “In line with that, there will be a sectoral focus where the party will publicise the achievements of the BJP government.”
Some of the key achievements that will be highlighted include the state becoming power surplus; recording the highest growth rate in agriculture at 7.3% and the announcement of ₹1,000 per month for women who are not taxpayers, the functionary said.
In the coming weeks, the party has lined up a series of programmes to intensify outreach, which includes brining experts from various sectors into the party’s fold. The response to the 15-day Vikas Yatra by ministers that concluded on February 15 has been tepid, so the leadership has decided to formulate plans aimed at “micro targeting of different sections” and “co-opting people of eminence.”
“Usually, there is a joining spree before elections and mostly these people are politically inclined. We are looking at getting eminent persons from various sectors to join the party to infuse fresh ideas,” the functionary said.
With these efforts, being made with an eye on rebranding the image of the chief minister, the leadership is hopeful that the electoral narrative will hinge on the BJP’s governance model.
Plans are also afoot to address the identity issues of various castes, particularly the scheduled castes and tribes, whose support is critical to the party seeking to retain power. While SCs are 15.62% of the population, STs are about 21.2%.
“In 2018, the party faced a backlash from both the SCs and STs, as well as the upper castes. This time, the focus is on consolidating the Hindutva vote and reducing the identity differences,” said a second functionary, declining to be named.
In 2018, there were widespread protests by SCs against changes in the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes Prevention of Atrocities Act (PoA) by the Supreme Court, which were subsequently reversed after the Union government brought in an ordinance. The decision to reserve 10% of the vacancies to economically weaker sections in government jobs and educational institutions that came close on the heels of the ordinance was seen as a move to placate the upper castes.
With huge spendings on development of the Mahakal temple corridor in Ujjain and allocation of ₹100 crore for the construction of a temple and centre for saint Ravidas, aimed at wooing the SCs, the BJP is hoping to consolidate the Hindu vote.
The party leadership is also working on ironing out intraparty differences that was identified as a major reason for the 2018 debacle when the BJP lost the polls. It came back to power in 2020 after defection from the Congress.
“The ticket distribution was carried out on the basis of a survey to check the merit and winnability of the sitting legislators. The cadre and state leadership were not attuned to such a process. Consequently, there were some differences over ticket distribution, which in turn led to losses,” the first functionary said.
A message to bury differences has been conveyed to the state unit, given there is speculation that between 30-40% of the sitting legislators could be dropped.
“Last time, our cadre did not foresee a loss. They could not anticipate the consequence of the ticket distribution,” the first functionary said. “This time, we are well prepared. If tickets are not through consensus as was done pre-2018, there will not be confusion or rebellion.”
