RAIPUR: For any political party, every seat in a tightly contested poll matters. The BJP, which suffered a huge debacle in the Assembly elections four months ago, has gone for the tough and unprecedented decision to deny tickets to all its sitting MPs in Chhattisgarh in an attempt to bounce back in the Lok Sabha polls.
The party has also ruled out fielding the family members of any of these MPs. Apparently, this depicts the party brass’ ‘no trust’ on the entire state leadership.
But, with the polling barely three weeks away, the decision has created a storm within the saffron ranks in the state and may open up the possibility of factionalism and desertions, denting BJP’s prospects.
“Unlike MP and Rajasthan, the defeat for BJP was very humiliating in Chhattisgarh. The party’s decision shows a state of nervousness, desperation and the complete loss of faith in the state leadership,” opined Sajjan Kumar, a political analyst.
The message that may go to the people is “crisis of leadership in BJP”, besides lack of confidence shown in the entire state leadership.
Daunting task
Ever since Chhattisgarh was carved out of Madhya Pradesh in 2000, the BJP has won 10 out of the 11 Lok Sabha seats in all the three general elections held, with the Congress getting just one. But this time, the BJP has a daunting task ahead to repeat the ‘perfect 10’ performance and that’s why the party has denied tickets to 10 its sitting MPs.