Secrecy and surprise — these two are the mottos of the Narendra Modi-led ‘new BJP’ when it comes to choosing chief ministers.
The various CM probables go silent lest they spoil their chances, no lobbying or show of strength or pressure works, and taking the ‘right decision’ takes precedence over how much time it takes to make one. Further, only the top three in the BJP — Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and JP Nadda — know who the ultimate choice is.
As four days have passed after the big win for the BJP in the three heartland states, the suspense over who will be the chief minister continues. Journalists have put out speculative lists of as many as 20 CM probables in the three states. But we are no wiser about whom the BJP will finally choose. There is a history to it.
Yogi to Patel, Everybody Left Surprised
Yogi Adityanath had thought he would get a much-needed break after the hectic election campaign in Uttar Pradesh in 2017, as he was to head abroad for a parliament committee tour. His name had nowhere featured in the chief ministerial race in the elections and his picture was not even there on poll posters.
But on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s directions, the foreign ministry denied him permission to go abroad, and a few days later, BJP president Amit Shah called him to Delhi and told him that he would be the CM. Yogi Adityanath was surprised as he had not even carried a change of clothes to Delhi but he headed to Lucknow and was declared the CM. Everyone was left surprised!
In 2021, Bhupendra Patel was holding a small meeting in his constituency in Ahmedabad and planting saplings on the road when he received a call to reach the BJP office where all MLAs had been summoned. He occupied a seat in the last row at the meeting before his name was announced as the Gujarat CM in place of Vijay Rupani. Some had to Google Patel’s name to know more about him, as all prominent names had been speculated in the media till then.
How will the Decision Pan Out This Time
In Rajasthan, two-time former chief minister Vasundhara Raje has shown strength by showcasing how more than 40 MLAs visited her residence in Jaipur, and a few of them issued statements that she should be made the CM. Other reports emerged that a few MLAs were in a farmhouse in Rajasthan at the behest of Raje. She is now in Delhi and met BJP president JP Nadda for over an hour. Those who cover the BJP know such pressure tactics do not work in the ‘new-age’ BJP led by Modi.
Was the meeting hence more about making Raje fall in line and accept the party’s decision rather than flout party discipline? Comparatively, Madhya Pradesh’s Shivraj Singh Chouhan has taken a cautious line, even stating that he is not in any race to become the CM and has not undertaken a trip to Delhi. Instead, he headed to Chhindwara on Thursday and will be in Raghopur on Friday — areas where the BJP lost seats in the recent assembly elections.
From Baba Balaknath to Diya Kumari and Rajyavardhan Rathore — all CM probables being talked about in the media have gone silent in the last few days and have avoided the media while they visited Parliament. In Madhya Pradesh, Prahlad Patel and Narendra Singh Tomar have also adopted a line of silence. In the words of a senior BJP leader, when he calls some leaders after seeing their faces as probables on TV, they are quick to say they have not pushed their name in the media.
So why is the decision taking so long? Even Congress has now asked the same. “Taking the correct decision is important, not the amount of time taken,” a senior BJP leader explained. Till it is announced, speculation will be on — women CMs, OBC or Dalit faces or experienced hands or green horns? At the cost of repeating, only three men know.
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