With poor micro management at Central level, is BJP losing steam ahead of Mandate 2024 ?
Manoj Srivastava
Lucknow: In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the central leadership of the Bharatiya Janata Party is talking about winning all the seats in Uttar Pradesh. The enthusiasm seen in the workers however is missing in preparation for the municipal elections to be held in UP before the Lok Sabha elections.
The commission set up by the UP government has submitted its report to the court ahead of time on the issue of reservation for the backward classes in the municipal elections.
Now things have to be taken forward by the High Court. It has fixed the date of hearing on 24 March. Six months after giving the new state president and new general secretary organization in UP, the national leadership of BJP has shown mojo but there is a certain planning that is lacking in the party.
Apart from the district level, state level, the national command by the central leadership seems to be lacking the ability to micro manage at geographical, social and practical level.
Several senior BJP leaders, who have been thrown into the state-level guidance board, say that the work of implementing the strategy by coordinating with the state units on behalf of the central team comes in the part of the National General Secretary’s Organization, BL Santosh.
They however fathom why he is not able to give as much speed to the state as before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, despite the fine tuning by Amit Shah, who was sent as National General Secretary and UP in-charge, and Sunil Bansal, who was sent to manage the elections of UP. Questions arise about why BJP, is not visible far and wide.
Sunil Bansal, giving edge to Team Narendra Modi’s imagination through Amitshah, showed UP for the first time the power of BJP’s war room. The Delhi leadership in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections in UP, the BJP alone won 71 seats in the national elections.
Dr. Laxmikant Bajpai, who was the then State President along with General Secretary and UP in-charge Amit Shah, had given the tuning of State Organization General Secretary Rakesh Jain and Sunil Bansal, who proved his mettle in election management.
Whatever may be the perspective at present, the national team of BJP has not been able to establish such coordination in UP from the organizational point of view.
It is a coincidence that JP Nadda, while being the national president, has been suffering from the defeat of the assembly elections held in his home state Himachal till date. Could not see emerging. Be it Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or setting from Team Gujarat, whatever reason he got extension of service but today he is not able to catch the old energetic rhythm.
Even though there is no strong opposition in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, yet this lackluster feature has become a matter of concern for the BJP’s central strategists for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Only Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah will be able to cure it.
In Uttar Pradesh, even after six months have passed since the tenure of the new State President Chaudhary Bhupendra Singh and the new General Secretary of the organization Dharampal, the people responsible for the national leadership could not give a final shape to the new team of the Uttar Pradesh BJP. On the condition of anonymity, a person associated with the national leaders of the party told that an important full-time leader in the national leadership wants the names of some of his fans to be included in the UP BJP team.
While those who have to work on the ground want to have at least half a dozen hardworking and knowledgeable people who have the spirit to fight tirelessly till 2024. Those who have to work in UP if their choice of team is not theirs, it will be difficult to get on the ground.
Due to this duality, lakhs of workers have lost their duty. Prominent leaders of the state are dying worrying to fit in the state unit. After that, there is the selection of names of MLCs, region-wise formation of new regional presidents, creation of their team, and then making a smooth leadership change in many districts and metropolitan cities is taking the form of a big challenge.
Apart from the elections for the upcoming municipal bodies, cooperatives and cantonment boards in the state, adjustment of workers in state corporations and commissions is becoming a big issue. In the midst of all this, the news spread that the UP BJP team has been finalized, but the formation of the new UP BJP team is hanging in the balance due to the failure of the National General Secretary Organization BL Santosh to put a final stamp on the team in time.
There is talk among political analysts in the political corridors of the capital that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has carefully distanced himself from the formation of the new U.P. BJP team.
As the image of Chief Minister Yogi is spreading in the country and the world, he has managed to keep himself away from unnecessary interference like a true politician. Even after that, the national leadership of BJP is calling the UP BJP leaders to Delhi again and again and making them do labour which may not bear fruit.
