Nation
With a blend of caste equations and recognition of the contributions of the party’s grassroots workers, the BJP went ahead with its dark horse strategy while choosing Rekha Gupta as its 4th woman CM. It was not the first time the BJP picked a dark horse to be at the helm of a state.
In March last year, the BJP selected Nayab Singh Saini, as the chief minister of Haryana. Similarly, in 2023, before the Lok Sabha polls 2024, the BJP picked Vishnu Deo Sai as Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, Mohan Yadav for Madhya Pradesh and Bhajan Lal Sharma for Rajasthan. All three were not prominent figures. They replace political stalwarts such as Shivraj Singh Chouhan (MP), Vasundhara Raje (Rajasthan), and Raman Singh (Chhattisgarh).