A week after appointing the new state unit president, the BJP has gone in for further leadership change in Chhattisgarh, appointing three-time MLA Narayan Chandel as the leader of opposition, replacing Dharamlal Kaushik.
The appointment of Chandel, MLA from Janjgir-Champa and former deputy speaker of state assembly, came at a meeting of the BJP legislature party in the presence of state in-charge D. Purandeswari, state general secretary (organization) Ajay Jamwal and co-in-charge Nitin Nabin.
The appointment has also made it clear that the saffron party is focusing on the majority OBC voters in the state as Chandel comes from the politically strong Kurmi community that makes up for about 12 per cent of voters in the state. Interestingly, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel also belongs to the Kurmi community.
Arun Sao, who was appointed state BJP president last week, belongs to the Sahu community which comprises the biggest OBC chunk in the state, with about 14 per cent voters. Like Sao, Chandel also belongs to the Bilaspur division that makes up for 24 of 90 assembly seats.
The changes in the party right after Jamwal took over, shows that the BJP wants to overhaul the structure ahead of the assembly polls, which is just 15 months away.
Vishnu Deo Sai as the state president (from June 2020) and Kaushik as the leader of opposition, could not make much of a mark as the Congress seemed to grow from strength to strength, winning all bypolls. Also, ex-chief minister Raman Singh, who is among the longest serving chief ministers of BJP, could not save his own backyard during the recent bypoll in Khairagarh. The current tally of Congress in the assembly stands at 71 of 90.
The Congress is firmly focused on tribal dignity, regional identity and strengthening the rural economy. The ruling party has an OBC chief minister in Baghel and a tribal (Mohan Markam) as the state Congress chief.
To counter this, the BJP seems to have fallen back on the OBCs who comprise 45-47 per cent of the total voters in the state. OBCs are looked upon as traditional supporters of the BJP, though the Baghel factor made a big difference in the 2018 polls, along with the long-time anti-incumbency faced by the BJP.
Chandel, 57, is known as an active leader with an Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad background. But, he will get barely three sessions of the state assembly (winter 2022, budget and monsoon 2023) to make a mark as the leader of opposition. However, the appointment is important because the leader of opposition is considered the front-runner for the chief minister's post in case the opposition party comes to power.
