Modi draws BJP campaign lines for Assembly polls

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rallies shape BJP’s campaign for upcoming Assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, and Mizoram. Dates not announced yet.

In the three States of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh, it has been made quite clear in words and deeds by the national leadership of the BJP that there will be no projection of a single face in the party’s campaign.

The second list of candidates released by the BJP for Madhya Pradesh, fielding seven sitting MPs — three of whom are Union Ministers, makes the message clear that Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was not seen as the rallying force for the party in the State.

While addressing a rally at Chittorgarh in Rajasthan on Monday, Mr. Modi had declared, “We have only one face: the lotus.”

The BJP’s decision to not project any local leader is attributed to the fact that in the two States of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, many claimants may not pull together if one is singled out for the top post.

Notably, the national leadership is keen to decide who the next leader in these States would be. Reports that Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, along with several other Lok Sabha MPs from Rajasthan, will be fielded in the Assembly polls feeding into that idea.

In the last two days, Mr. Modi has also set the line for the BJP on how to interpret the caste survey done by the Bihar government, the results of which were announced on Monday.

At a public rally in Chhattisgarh on Monday, he said that the Opposition was adept at using caste to divide society. On Tuesday, again in Chattisgarh’s Jagdalpur, Mr. Modi obliquely referred to the caste survey.