Narendra Singh Tomar appointed BJP's Madhya Pradesh campaign management committee convenor

The decision comes after a month of parleys within the BJP as it prepares to take on the Congress in a direct contest in MP, Rajasthan, & Chhattisgarh later this year.

Union Agriculture Minister and BJP leader Narendra Singh Tomar. Credit: PTI Photo

In a move aimed to buffer the party and its Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan from more than 15 years of anti-incumbency, Bharatiya Janata Party President JP Nadda on Saturday appointed Union Minister of Agriculture Narendra Singh Tomar as the convenor of its elections management committee in the poll-bound state.

The decision comes after a month of hectic parleys within the BJP as it prepares to take on the Congress in a direct contest in MP, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh later this year.

In 2018, the BJP lost the elections in all three states but managed to claw back to power in MP when more than 20 Congress MLAs defected to help Shivraj Singh reclaim the chief ministership for a record fourth time.

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Chouhan is the longest-serving CM of MP. Apart from a short 15-month hiatus after the 2018 Assembly polls, he has been in power since 2005 and faces more than a decade and a half of incumbency.

Tomar on the other hand, has led the state unit in the past. Considered a thorough organizational man, the party wants to use his connect with the cadre to make optimum use of its organizational strength in the state.

But his appointment, willy-nilly, also re-opens up possibilities for alternative leadership if the party were to return to power in the state in the December 2023 elections.

By appointing Tomar, the BJP may have also tried to strike a balance between its two core vote banks in MP- the upper castes and the OBCs.

While CM Chouhan belongs to a backward community, Tomar is a Rajput representing the Morena seat from the Chambal region.

Tomar’s appointment is also being seen as an attempt to lend due weightage to the party cadres in the wake of the recent influx from the Congress ranks led by Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, whose defection triggered the fall of the Kamal Nath government.

BJP President Nadda had earlier appointed Union Ministers Bhupendra Yadava and Ashwani Viashnaw as poll in-charge for MP. The two are expected to visit the state on Sunday to interact with party leaders and workers.