Why it’s good to be a first-time MLA in BJP | India News

From left – Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel, Delhi CM Rakhi Gupta and Rajasthan CM Bhajan Lal Sharma

NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on a number of events, has given causes to consider that it’s good to be a first-time MLA in meeting elections. Picking darkish horses over entrance runners has been a constant technique by the BJP’s high brass whereas selecting chief ministerial face in states the celebration has gained, significantly after 2014.
The BJP’s first guess on a first-timer for the chief ministerial put up was in 2014 when the celebration selected Manohar Lal Khattar to serve Haryana as CM.
In 2014, Khattar was a first-time MLA, an unknown face in the state’s politics who had shocked everybody by being handed the highest put up after BJP gained 47 seats in the meeting election.
Associated with the Rashtriya Swamsevak Sangh (RSS) for over 4 many years and BJP for 20 years, Khattar had labored because the organising secretary of BJP in Haryana and established his status as a key strategist for the celebration in the state.
Khattar had labored carefully with the PM when the latter was BJP in cost of Haryana in 1996. When Modi was contesting from Varanasi in the 2014 basic elections, Khattar was in cost of fifty wards in the constituency.
His capacity to align and consolidate the non-Jat voters in favour of the BJP endeared him to the celebration even because the Jat group, which dominated the Haryana politics for a lengthy interval, strongly resented the BJP for causes comparable to farming points and Jat quota agitation.
Another such shock transfer by the celebration got here in 2024 when it picked Bhajan Lal Sharma the chief minister of Rajasthan.
Bhajan Lal Sharma, a basic secretary in the BJP’s state unit and a first-time MLA from Jaipur’s Sanganer constituency, stored a low profile in the celebration earlier than his sudden rise to the highest put up.
Interestingly, when a group photograph was taken on the BJP workplace forward of the legislature celebration assembly, the photograph confirmed Bhajan Lal Sharma in the final row. However, in the course of the Rajasthan legislature celebration meet Bhajan Lal was introduced because the chief.
Considered a hardcore RSS man, Sharma was actively concerned in the agitation for the Ram temple in Ayodhya on the web site the place the Babri mosque stood. In 1992, he hung out in jail for this. That was across the starting of his political profession. Over the previous 30 years, Sharma had held varied posts in the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) and in the celebration organisation.
The listing of first-timers changing into CM solely bought longer on Wednesday when the BJP’s high management backed Rekha Gupta for the Delhi CM put up over Parvesh Verma who defeated Ex-Delhi CM Kejriwal in meeting elections.
Rekha Gupta rose by means of the ranks of the RSS-affiliated outfit Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad. She has held key positions in authorities and the celebration.
Gupta’s political journey started in DUSU, in which she served as secretary in 1995-96, earlier than profitable the president’s put up in 1996-97 as an ABVP candidate. Her trajectory mirrors BJP’s technique of grooming leaders from grassroots actions.

In a political purge that was seen as BJP’s most audacious experiment, the celebration in 2021 changed all 22 ministers from the erstwhile Vijay Rupani cupboard. The tsunami of transformation capped a frenetic six days for the state, beginning with Rupani’s sudden resignation as CM. More stunning was the elevation of first-time MLA Bhupendra Patel to the chief ministership.
Unanimously elected because the BJP legislature celebration chief, Bhupendra Patel made his approach up in the state politics from the municipality degree. His identify was floated by outgoing CM Vijay Rupani himself.
Fondly referred to as ‘Dada’ by many, Patel (59) had contested his maiden meeting election from Ghatlodia constituency in Ahmedabad in 2017 and gained it by a margin of over 1.17 lakh votes, which was a file throughout that election.
BJP’s transfer to decide CM face is just not restricted to solely MLAs, the celebration gave high put up accountability to Yogi Adityanath, who was MP from Gorakhpur, to function Uttar Pradesh CM in 2017.
When it comes to deciding on chief ministers, the BJP’s script has been the identical – state after state. Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Odisha, Gujarat, Haryana – all these BJP-ruled states have chief ministers who had been comparatively unknown figures in the celebration until they had been picked to lead the state.
The heavyweights and the frontrunners in these states misplaced the race to the highest put up. This additionally helps the BJP in delivering the message that a grassroots chief with an apolitical backdrop can attain the helm of electoral politics.