Bihar woes send BJP soul-searching
Bihar BJP core group meeting in 2022 at party HQ
By Manish Anand
New Delhi, August 16: On a day the Mahagathbandhan Government in Bihar expanded Nitish Kumar-led council of ministers, the top brass of the Bharatiya Janata Party was back to the discussion table, with an immediate agenda on how to transform into an Opposition outfit against the chief minister with whom the party has shared power for over 15 years.
Union Minister for Home Affairs Amit Shah, who never had working relations with the Bihar chief minister, joined the BJP chief J P Nadda along with the national office bearers to take stock of the loss of the power in the state at the organization level.
While the BJP has backed Baniya leadership in Bihar for several decades, with faces such as Sushil Kumar Modi, Tarkishore Prasad and Sanjay Jaiswal, the saffron outfit now is pushed to the wall, and may be forced to hand over the charge of the state unit to someone who hails from a numerically strong caste.
Jaiswal, who has been the state unit chief for over two years, is slated to make way for a new face, as reported by The Raisina Hills previously.
Additionally, the BJP top brass is also well aware that Jaiswal is not known outside Champaran region of the state, and that has seriously affected the organization in the state.
The BJP top brass also faces daunting task in the form of overwhelming leadership baggage in the likes of Sushil Kumar Modi, Ashwani Choube, Giriraj Singh, who are seen by the party workers in Bihar as camp-holders, promoting several factions.
“The likes of Sushil Kumar Modi, Ashwani Choube and Giriraj Singh are part of problems, and solutions should come from a new approach, which shouldn’t work under the shadow of any such leaders,” said a senior BJP functionary from Bihar.
The BJP’s experiment to make inroads in the Yadav vote base in Bihar has also come a cropper, as the dominant caste has remained loyal to the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).
Equally significant is the fact that the top BJP leadership and their faces in Bihar, who have been made in-charges, have failed to fathom vibrant sub-regionalism in Bihar, said another state party functionary, who added that there’s hardly any leadership to represent the aspirations for the people in Mithila, Seemanchal, Champaran, Magadh and elsewhere.
“The day the BJP top brass knows answers of reasons why the party could never produce leadership with pan-Bihar appeal after tying with Nitish Kumar, the party will become alive to the new opportunities,” said another state BJP functionary.
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