BJP's 2024 problem: Has saffron leadership erred in weakening its regional satraps?

New Delhi: Ahead of crucial Assembly polls this year and 2024 Lok Sabha elections, murmurs are growing in the Bharatiya Janata Party on the sad situation of regional leadership in the saffron unit.

Other than Uttar Pradesh and Assam, the BJP is looking at ineffective leadership in every state. A section of the saffron leadership has raised concern that lightweight leaders are being promoted in various states, including Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, New Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh at the cost of real leaders in these states.

Sources stated that whispers can be heard about the way regional satraps have been weakened in every state by the top leadership of the BJP. “The party is being damaged from inside due to insecurity at the top. That is the real reason for losing state after state, not the lies being peddled like freebies and rebels,” sources said.

List of regional leaders that have been deliberately cut to size includes senior leaders like BS Yediyurappa, Prem Kumar Dhumal, Vasundhara Raje, Dr Raman Singh, Devendra Fadnavis, Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Dr Harsh Vardhan among others. The removal or weakening of these satraps from political and strategic planning over the past few years has forced the party in a corner and caused immense damage to its electoral planning.  

Sources pointed out that the several of these regional satraps were removed unceremoniously or were asked to bow out from active politics to ensure the will of the central leadership was fulfilled and weaker and more pliable leaders were installed. “Despite their tall stature and years of service to the saffron unit, the central leadership seems to be in no mood to re-accommodate them anytime soon,” sources added. The weakened status of these regional satraps has led to repeated losses in important states like Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and recently Karnataka. 

Three important states, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, where these satraps were weakened are scheduled to go for polls later this year and the BJP knows that it is staring at a tough battle ahead.

Though the unceremonious weakening or removal of these regional leaders was seen as an attempt to send a message across the saffron unit that the top leadership was not happy with the working style or outcomes achieved by them, these moves have ultimately come back to haunt the BJP.

This removal or weakening of leaders which had mass appeal in these regions has ensured that in several states the saffron unit is now dependent on the second rung of leadership which lacks credible performance in elections as well as strategy planning.

This has further ensured that there is too much dependence on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Assembly polls, a matter which was flagged after the recent defeat of the party in Karnataka Assembly polls.

Though under the watch of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah the BJP has emerged as an election winning machine. The weakening of regional satraps has started to hurt the electoral prospects of the party as the next general elections approach.

It is believed by party leaders that unless a credible and strong regional leadership is nurtured and completely backed by the BJP’s top Central leadership, the road to 2024 Lok Sabha would be a tough one. As PM Modi seeks his third term in the top office, the saffron unit will need to pull all stops to ensure that the BJP returns to power in 2024 general elections. And for this the party will need dependable regional leaders who can provide able leadership under the guidance of PM Modi.