BJP may unveil bold experiments for Lok Sabha elections

By Manish Anand

New Delhi, January 1: The last bench in the classroom of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has now become aspirational. After making the leaders who occupied last benches grab the top posts in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, the BJP is buzzing with anticipation of an impending replication of the experiment in the Lok Sabha elections.

Seventeen of the 22 ministers who joined the government headed by Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma had never been at the helm of any ministry in the state. Similar story had played out in Madhya Pradesh as well. The precursor to the Bhopal and Jaipur experiments was seen in Gujarat. Bhupendra Patel, a first term MLA, heads a ministry consisting of several young faces.

The BJP leaders attribute to the fascination of the party to promote the first timers at the forefront of the affairs of the states as a matter of urgency to expedite the leadership transition. A senior BJP functionary said: “The BJP is preparing for the 2029 Lok Sabha elections. Several meetings have taken place to list out the challenges which the party will have to face in the 2029 Lok Sabha elections. The principal challenge is of the age factor, and a fresh crop of leadership needs to be groomed for the positions of responsibilities to ensure that the BJP maintain a winning momentum.”

The BJP on an average drops 20 per cent of the sitting members of the Lok Sabha in the elections. The BJP leaders are now asserting that the party may spring a big surprise with its choices of the candidates. One of the BJP leaders asserted that the “BJP could be dropping several of the sitting members of the Lok Sabha”.

The BJP leaders are also stressing that the Lok Sabha MPs who are past 70 years of age except for a few exceptions stand no chance of getting party tickets in the general elections. A senior BJP leader claimed that “the MPs who are above 65 years of age may also not get the party tickets as the preference will be the age group of 50 years”.   

If the claims of the BJP leaders come true then several of the known faces in the Lok Sabha, as well as the council of ministers headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, may not come back to parliament. A senior BJP leader explained: “It must be known that the BJP had appointed parliamentary constituency in-charges. For instance there are 48 BJP in-charges in Maharashtra who are looking after the Lok Sabha constituencies. They are also hopeful that the BJP may ask them to contest the Lok Sabha elections.”

It may be noted that the BJP had ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections floated the idea that the age ceiling for electoral politics will be 75 years. However, the BJP as per conveniences keep making exceptions to the unofficial rule.

Subscribe https://www.youtube.com/@TheRaisinaHills

Twitter: https://twitter.com/theraisinahills

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100083062965583

Website: https://theraisinahills.com/

Share on Facebook

Tweet

Follow us

Save

About The Author

Manish Anand

Manish Anand is a senior journalist with more than two decades of hardcore reporting on beats such as Prime Minister’s Office, Parliament, BJP, Congress, Planning Commission, NITI Aayog, and scores of Union Ministries.

His past has been with The New Indian Express, The Asian Age/Deccan Chronicle, and The Statesman.

For about 15 years, Manish was also a regular commentator and host for talks on AIR on foreign affairs.

See author's posts