BJP: Pressure from State Leaders Growing
The BJP’s central command structure, though amorphous, has Narendra Modi as its chief. This gives it all the authority it needs. However, when state leaders challenge it, situations become tricky, argues Radhika Ramaseshan, senior journalist.
Himachal Pradesh: For example, in Himachal Pradesh after the 2017 elections, Prem Kumar Dhumal made his anger known when he was overlooked for the chief minister’s post. Serious trouble shooting however, prevented things from getting worse.
Rajasthan: But “not every changeover is as painless as the BJP’s ‘high command’ visualises, not every former state chieftain is as compliant as the Delhi bosses would want. Vasundhara Raje, former Rajasthan CM, is back to being defiant despite Delhi’s assiduous efforts to marginalise her.” Her supporters have released a list of parallel state committees with their own office-bearers in the social media. It was a message, writes Ramaseshan “to the central and state leaders that she still had a significant base and following in the Rajasthan BJP and the repercussions of ignoring her could be grave.”
Karnataka: This state too remains a pressure point on the BJP command, largely because warhorse BS Yediyurappa, the Karnataka CM “used every skill in the playbook of political endurance and trumped his in-house enemies to live another day. The leaders have not found an alternative to him…….”
Tripura: The Karnataka scenario was replayed in Tripura, a state the BJP wrested from the Left Front. “Like in Karnataka, its first government in Agartala is sustained by turncoats from the Congress and the Trinamool Congress who are not ideologically motivated. The CM, Biplab Kumar Deb, who was never an MLA or an MP but was rooted in the RSS, cannot negotiate the interminable demands from his legislators and looks to Delhi for succour when up against a crisis.
West Bengal: “There’s a lesson from Karnataka and Tripura for the BJP in West Bengal. Right now, it is acquiring a ‘trophy’ a week from the Trinamool Congress: prize catches of MPs, MLAs and ministers. The price to wrest and, importantly, retain power on its terms might be the biggest challenge for the BJP in the months to come.”
