New Delhi: As BJP president J.P. Nadda appointed BJP prabharis (in-charge of states) for 24 states and union territories in the first week of July, there were notable exceptions like Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Telangana, Tami Nadu, and Assam.
Many of these states have been running without prabharis for more than a year. More importantly, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and West Bengal had lower returns in the general elections.
UP has been running without in-charge since July 2023 after Radha Mohan Singh relinquished his post after being dropped as the BJP national vice-president. Same is the case in Maharashtra after C.T. Ravi was removed from the post of BJP general secretary in July 2023.
Gujarat, too, is without in-charge after Union minister Bhupendra Yadav was relieved from the responsibility following the 2022 state election.
“Due to lack of consensus with the state unit and the chief minister, decision has been deferred till a consensus is reached on probable names. The most challenging states are Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra — choosing a person acceptable to Yogi Adityanath while Devendra Fadnavis recently offered to resign from the post of deputy CM to build pressure on the central brass,” a BJP functionary said.
“In other states like Rajasthan, a major organisational overhaul is due. So, it will be announced accordingly. Gujarat is the home state of PM and Amit Shah. There is only a symbolic need of in-charge,” the functionary explained.
भाजपा राष्ट्रीय अध्यक्ष श्री @JPNadda ने विभिन्न प्रदेशों में प्रदेश प्रभारी एवं सह-प्रभारियों की नियुक्ति की। pic.twitter.com/1yVAjOm4Vu
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The focus is on Uttar Pradesh as there are reports of infighting, Dalit vote shift among others. In January, Baijayant Panda was named as Lok Sabha poll in-charge but the party’s Lok Sabha tally nosedived from 63 to 33.
Apart from initial meetings in February and March, the management of the Lok Sabha election campaign and ticket distribution was mostly left to the state unit and Shah. Panda himself was busy in his Lok Sabha election in Odisha.
After Amit Shah had taken over as in-charge of Uttar Pradesh in 2013, he was credited with the BJP’s turnaround by ensuring 71 Lok Sabha seats in 2014. When Shah took over as the BJP national president in 2014, the responsibility to look after UP fell on Om Prakash Mathur with the focus to dethrone the Samajwadi Party from power.
Sunil Bansal was then brought from Rajasthan as the organisational general secretary in UP. Mathur and Bansal were credited with ending 14-year exile in the northern state as the BJP won the 2017 polls.
Mathur was made Gujarat BJP in-charge for Lok Sabha polls in 2018. Bansal was promoted as the BJP national general secretary in 2022 with the responsibility of West Bengal, Odisha, and Telangana.
But as the organisational mission was accomplished and Yogi Adityanath’s stock grew as a Hindutva icon, the BJP felt there was no need to send any assertive figure as the state in-charge.
This was seen when BJP chief J.P. Nadda chose former Union minister Radha Mohan Singh as UP in-charge instead of an assertive Om Mathur. The Bihar politician had no friction with Yogi and remained in the role till 2023.
“As a powerful chief minister with a powerful state in-charge led to confusion and conflict (earlier), so the party did not pick a heavyweight for UP. Even Bansal was removed from UP and elevated in the national team to avoid conflict with Yogi,” a BJP functionary explained.
In Maharashtra, where former UP deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma was appointed election in-charge in March, the BJP tally came down from 23 to 9. The BJP brass made Union minister Bhupendra Yadav the election in-charge and Union minister Ashwini Vaishnav the co-in-charge in June, but the state remains without a prabhari.
Rajiv Pratap Rudy was Maharashtra in-charge during Rajnath Singh’s stint as BJP head in 2013, while a relatively low-profile Saroj Pandey, Rajya Sabha MP from Chhattisgarh, occupied the post during Shah’s tenure to apparently not disturb Devendra Fadnavis.
Nadda selected BJP general secretary C.T. Ravi — seen as a lightweight — as in-charge of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Goa in 2020. But Ravi was dropped from the central team after he lost in the 2023 Karnataka election.
“As an election in-charge has already been announced, the BJP may go to polls without full-time in-charge if a suitable candidate is not found,” a second BJP functionary said.
Maharashtra is going to polls in October-November.
Bhupendra Yadav was the BJP’s last Gujarat in-charge, and the state is now without full-time in-charge after the assembly election in 2022.
“Gujarat is in no need of in-charge as a powerful (Lok Sabha MP) C.R.Patil worked superbly in the last four years and is credited with the BJP’s largest win in assembly polls. Both Shah and Modi are also aware of everything related to the state,” a BJP insider said.
A new BJP state president is expected anytime and the party will appoint in-charge accordingly, the source added.
The situation in Rajasthan is tricky as there is an organisational vacuum, especially after general secretary (organisation) Chandrasekhar was moved to Telangana in January.
Two months later, Vinay Sahasrabuddhe was made Rajasthan election in-charge but the party’s Lok Sabha tally came down from 24 to 14. What adds to the complexity is that BJP state chief Chandra Prakash Joshi has additional responsibility as an MP while CM Bhajan Lal Sharma is a first-time MLA. Both are Brahmins, and the party needs to balance social engineering at top post.
Though the party increased its Lok Sabha vote share to about 11 percent in Tamil Nadu, the southern state is also without state in-charge.
“Giving a free hand to Annamalai did not pay dividends. Arvind Menon was in-charge earlier, and the party has to make a decision to send a signal to AIADMK before the assembly election. In Assam, where another strong chief minister is present, Captain Abhimanyu and Pawan Sharma were the in-charge and deputy in-charge. It’s not clear whether they will continue or a new person will be named,” a BJP functionary said..
As for West Bengal, former Bihar minister Mangal Pandey was appointed state in-charge while Amit Malviya and Asha Lakra made co-in charges in 2022. But it has been downhill ever since there. The previous state in-charge Kailash Vijayvargiya did not share best of the ties with BJP strongman Suvendu Adhikari. Sunil Bansal was later appointed, but now the party has to appoint a new in-charge.
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Weakening role of prabhari
Several leaders of Vajpayee-Advani era recalled how the role of prabharis has been weakening and “lightweights” got the responsibilities of state in-charges.
“Seasoned politicians were chosen as in-charge of states to guide the leadership there in managing affairs, or making election strategy. Whether it was Pramod Mahajan, Arun Jaitley, Venkaiah Naidu, Rajnath Singh, Shanta Kumar, or Murli Manohar Joshi …they had vast electoral and political experience. The prabhari post was created to function as a feedback mechanism as well, reviewing the state affairs. If a prabhari is weak, the party loses its ear and eye on the ground and makes more mistakes,” a BJP old-timer told ThePrint.
The trend, according to a BJP functionary, changed after Modi-Shah took over the party in 2014.
“They picked largely lightweight leaders having no mass base or election experience to act as the centre’s messenger. Most of the decision of ticket distribution is done by Shah, while the central command decides electoral strategy, PR and survey agencies. Everything has been centralised,” this functionary said.
“This arrangement suited Modi and Shah. That’s why most states have lightweight state in-charges barring the likes of Om Mathur, Kailash Vijayvargiya, Bhupendra Yadav, or Dharmendra Pradhan.”
Another leader explained how the party affairs were different when the late Pramod Mahajan held fort in the late 1990s and the early 2000s.
“The state unit deliberated several days before sending the nomination of a candidate for any seat. Most names were approved barring one-two changes. Pramod was the last word in Maharashtra. Now, no general secretary or in-charge has clout to decide poll tickets. Everything is decided by the central command; the state’s role has been curtailed. Vasundhara (Raje), Shivraj (Singh Chouhan) had the last word to take decision on tickets after consultation with the state in-charge during Advani-Vajpyee years.”
A former Bihar minister recalled how Arun Jaitley forged strong ties with JD(U)’s Nitish Kumar in the state.
“It was such that whenever Nitish visited Delhi, he reached Jaitley’s home for dinner and sought his advice on many affairs. Now, the CM doesn’t trust BJP in-charge… When Bhupendra Yadav was Bihar in-charge, the BJP used Chirag Paswan to cut down Nitish. He was so miffed with Yadav that he refused to meet him when the latter came knocking at his door in 2022,” the former minister said.
He added that Dharmendra Pradhan was dispatched to meet Nitish as the Union minister had worked with Arun Jaitley as co in-charge and later in-charge of Bihar. “But, he too didn’t succeed in convincing Nitish (to stop from withdrawing support).”
A former state in-charge from Shah’s presidency said that in-charge now don’t require knowledge of a state’s political dynamics.
“They only convey what the central brass decides and inform it about state affairs like a postman. They take part in a few state executive meetings; they don’t have their own vision or expertise and experiences. One south in-charge always kept a tablet during ticket discussions as he always remained confused between Madiga and other backward caste candidates,” this functionary said.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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