No big election tasks for Jaishankar, Sitharaman as BJP takes Karnataka lessons
Until Karnataka Assembly elections, the BJP was seemingly amplifying India’s positions in the global affairs with Jaishankar holding several outreach among the youth as well as intellectuals. Jaishankar had led several diplomats to take part in the Navratra festival in Gandhinagar last year and afterwards he was actively seen holding sessions to explain the nitty gritty of India’s gains on the global stage.
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By Manish Anand
New Delhi, November 20: At the peak of the electioneering, Union Minister for External Affair Subrahmanyam Jaishankar embarked in a five days long official visit to the UK which coincided with the major shakeout in the Rishi Sunak-led Cabinet. Union Minister for Finance Nirmala Sitharaman has been barely seen in the electioneering action.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is now busy in electioneering for Telangana and Rajasthan Assembly elections. The people have cast their ballots for the Mizoram, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh Assembly election. Noticeable on the election trail has been missing Jaishankar and sparingly used Sitharaman.
The Gujarat and Karnataka Assembly elections stand in contrast to the state polls this month for Jaishankar and Sitharaman. Until Karnataka Assembly elections, the BJP was seemingly amplifying India’s positions in the global affairs with Jaishankar holding several outreach among the youth as well as intellectuals. Jaishankar had led several diplomats to take part in the Navratra festival in Gandhinagar last year and afterwards he was actively seen holding sessions to explain the nitty gritty of India’s gains on the global stage.
The BJP’s youth wing chief Tejashwi Surya had conducted several sessions of Jaishankar in Karnataka also where he held interactive sessions with the youth as well as intellectuals. But foreign affairs and India’s stated gains on the global stage seemingly didn’t cut much ice with the electorate in Karnataka where the saffron outfit lost power to the Congress, which returned to power with a resounding victory.
In similar ways, Sitharaman was seen holding sessions with the resident welfare associations in Bengaluru during the Karnataka Assembly elections besides also holding women-led meetings where she sought to counter the Congress’ entitlements-based guarantees. She was the BJP’s answer to the Congress’ Priyanka Gandhi Vadra who had been holding women outreach as the party built a narrative around the cash doles to the electorate as part of five promises. Sitharaman was heard questioning the credibility of the Congress to fulfil the promises. But the BJP appears to have taken the lesson that Sitharaman is best utilised to hold sessions with the media than holding the public meetings.
While Vadra has grown up from holding the women outreach in Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh, the two states that the party wrested powers from the BJP, Sitharaman appears to have lost her heft in the electioneering strategy of the saffron outfit. With Jaishankar and Sitharaman now largely missing from electioneering action, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is himself leading the charge against the Congress’ aggressive welfarism.
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