Chhattisgarh: Raman Singh stamp on BJP ticket distribution spotlights uneasy balancing act between old and new faces

Former Chhattisgarh CM Raman Singh.

Bharatiya Janata Party’s second list of 64 candidates for the upcoming assembly elections gives the party a headstart over the Congress, which is considering the dropping of many sitting MLAs. In the first list, which was declared in August, BJP had put out the names of 21 candidates.

A “leaked” list of BJP’s supposed candidates was doing the rounds for the last few days in the state. The names in the second list more or less match with the purportedly “leaked” list. Almost one-third of the candidates in the 85-member list are the old faces of the party.

Old Guard Holds Firm

This includes the old guard who for the 15 years of Raman Singh’s government had ruled the roost. Even many of those who had lost their seats in the 2018 elections have been given a ticket.

It was believed that the karyakartas of BJP did not work on the ground in the last election because there was a feeling of discontent with the ministers and their conduct.  Giving those same ministers the chance to contest the election again is a strategy BJP karyakartas are finding hard to fathom.

In the last two to three years it was widely believed that the party would deny the ex-ministers a ticket for 2023. The reasoning for this was that the ministers had become unpopular among the masses. The conduct of these ministers was widely believed to have magnified the feeling of disenchantment with the BJP government in 2018. This had manifested as the results of 2018 elections in which Congress won the largest mandate in Chhattisgarh history.

There are 43 new faces in the BJP list. Some of them are actually strong on the ground too. But, the granting of tickets to the old guard has upset the perception game for the BJP. It is taking the spotlight away from the newer candidates in the list.  Also, the party has gone ahead with declaring the names of the candidates against whom local leaders and karyakartas had hit the roads and burnt effigies, a few days back, following the “leaked” list.

The Key Candidates

Dr. Raman Singh the former Chief Minister of the state and sitting MLA from Rajnandgaon, will again contest from the same seat. Additionally, one Minister of State (Mos), two Ex-Speakers, four sitting Member of Parliaments (including the MoS), two Ex-IAS officers, and four members belonging to royal families have been given the ticket. The late BJP stalwart Dilip Singh Judeo’s youngest son and daughter-in-law have also got tickets.

Two senior tribal leaders Renuka Singh and Ramvichar Netam are candidates in the Surguja region. Singh is presently Union MoS, Tribal Affairs. The released list also contains three former BJP state presidents’ namely Vishnu Deo Sai, Vikram Usendi and Dharam Lal Kaushik.

Perhaps, the most notable inclusion in the BJP list after Dr Raman Singh is Ishwar Sahu, father of Bhuneshwar Sahu who was killed in a communal clash (Biranpur Incident). He has been given the ticket from Saja against Congress’ senior leader and Cabinet Minister Ravindra Chaubey. Talks of Sahu getting the BJP ticket was doing rounds for a while in the state’s politics.

The BJP’s strategy behind giving Sahu the ticket is to bring back Sahu voters to its side. Sahus have traditionally been BJP supporters but supported the Congress in the last elections as a result of anti-incumbency. BJP has continuously kept the issue of the killing of Bhuneshwar Sahu in the communal clash on the boil. This strategy has culminated in Ishwar Sahu getting the ticket.

No Alternative To Raman Singh

Overall, the list establishes that Raman Singh still remains the tallest leader in the state BJP. It is evident from the list that the names he favours have got the ticket. When the first list was released in the month of August it appeared that BJP could take bold steps and it had given rise to excitement among party workers and political observers.

Also the party in the last parliamentary election had dropped all the sitting MPs and had come up with fresh names. Out of those who won in 2019, four would now contest assembly elections. What is notable is that the BJP strategy of dropping sitting incumbents has not been reapplied, but that those who lost the 2018 elections have been rewarded with tickets. With the second list out, the party appears to shy away from fighting the election with a bolder and newer strategy.

Congress, on the other hand in the previous election, had successfully established an “insider vs. outsider” narrative by labelling many BJP candidates as outsiders to the Chhattisgarh culture. The narrative fared well for Congress then, adding momentum to its 2018 juggernaut. During its stint in office, the Bhupesh Baghel government has further cemented the “Chhatisgadhiya-waad” symbolism. Congress can be expected to now fall back on this successful strategy and narrative from 2018 and intensify it with BJP going  into elections with its old faces.

Chhattisgarh votes next month in two phases on November 7 and 17. BJP has its work cut out to pull itself up from its low of 14 seats to the magic number of 45 in the 90-member assembly.

Harsh Dubey is a political commentator based in Raipur. Views are personal, and do not represent the stand of the publication.