NEW DELHI: It is now almost decided that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will refrain from projecting any leader as Chief Ministerial face at least in three prominent Opposition-ruled states namely Rajashthan, Chhattisgarh and Telangana.
The party, according to sources, will contest the elections on the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his popular slogan “Saab Ka Saath, Saab Ka Vikas”.
In two out of these three opposition-ruled states, namely Rajashthan and Chhattisgarh, the BJP is still facing ‘factionalism’ over the leadership in the state unit of the party.
“At a time when the people have reposed trust in the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, be it in national politics or state politics, it is a golden time for the BJP to cash in on Modi magic and the collective leadership of the party instead of banking on state CM faces,” a senior BJP leader told this newspaper.
The assembly elections are scheduled in many states like Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Rajashthan, Chhattisgarh, Meghalaya, Gujarat, Nagaland, Telangana and other states in 2023. As some BJP insiders shared, the party has started creating the bases for tough electoral battle in TRS-ruled Telangana and the Congress Party-ruled Rajashthan and Chhattisgarh.
“In Rajashthan and Chhattisgarh, the BJP is facing factionalism over the issue of state leadership. In Rajashthan, the factionalism within the party has surfaced many times in recent past. Despite all efforts of senior central leadership, factionalism has not stopped in these states. So, the party has decided to fight the election under the leadership of PM Modi instead of projecting any as the party’s CM face,” said source.
Sources said that the party is likely to go in the assembly elections under the its own chief ministers like Bhupendra Patel in Gujarat, Jairam Thakur in Himachal Pradesh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan in MP, Basavraj Bommai in Karnataka and Manik Saha in Tripura.
“In Opposition ruled states, we can win the elections only with the support of Modi magic. Our central leadership will decide the leadership for leading the state after the polls”, said BJP source. He said that nobody can deny that the 80-90% people, even in the state assembly election, have been found during a survey voting under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“Log ab sochta hai ki Modi ji bola hai to Vikash hoga rajye me bhi. Aur ye factor kamal ke liye bahut kaamal kar raha hai pratiyek rajya ke election mein (People now think that if Modiji has spoken, the development will take place in the state also. And this is doing wonder for the lotus now in every state elections),” remarked a senior BJP leader belonging to South India.