New Delhi: As part of a rejig in state units, with internal polls being scheduled ahead of the party’s organisational elections, the BJP is hoping to have new chiefs in as many as 15 states, said sources. These include poll-bound states as well as states where the party did not do well in the recently-concluded Lok Sabha elections.
Sources said that state units such as Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Assam, among others, could have new presidents in the coming months. A senior leader of the party, part of its decision-making cohort, said each state unit poses a different challenge for the BJP necessitating the change. Overall, the party is looking at sprucing up ahead of the series of Assembly elections by the end of this year. Additionally, some state units have also pointed at infighting.
In Uttar Pradesh, for instance, the party not only registered an unexpectedly disappointing result in the Lok Sabha elections, in the recently-held review meetings, both chief minister Yogi Adityanath and deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya were heard speaking in different voices. While CM Yogi Adityanath blamed the party’s “overconfidence” for its debacle in the state, Maurya said that the party is above all, including state government. On Tuesday, Maurya was headed to Delhi to meet senior leaders.
In states like Bihar and Jharkhand, the upcoming Assembly elections are crucial for the BJP to assert its dominance politically, especially after the I.N.D.I.A. parties registered a significant tally in the Lok Sabha, and then in the bypolls held recently.
The saffron party is also looking at appointing a new and dynamic face in Bengal, where it has had troubles one after the other. Assam, too, is shaping up to be a crucial fight in 2026 with the Congress looking at a resurgence in the state after registering a respectable number of wins in the region.
Published 16 July 2024, 17:10 IST