Balancing Caste Equations, Age Factor & Message to Cadre: Decoding BJP’s Surprise CM Picks After 3-State Win – News18

Riding on a massive victory wave, the BJP’s two chief ministers — Madhya Pradesh’s Mohan Yadav and Chhattisgarh’s Vishnu Deo Sai — will take oath on Wednesday, while their Rajasthan counterpart, Bhajan Lal Sharma, will be sworn in on December 15. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president JP Nadda will attend all three functions.

So, what explains the BJP’s three surprise picks as chief ministers?

1. Balancing Caste Equations: BJP has given the first tribal chief minister to Chhattisgarh, the country’s only Yadav chief minister to Madhya Pradesh, and a Brahmin chief minister in Rajasthan. The message on this caste balancing will travel far and wide ahead of the Lok Sabha elections of 2024. It is an answer to the caste census card of the opposition alliance.

2. Age Matters: All three chief ministers are below 60 years of age, bringing in next-generation leadership and a ‘New Team BJP’ in important states as majority of voters are young. This is also a message to the second-rung leadership of the party that their future is bright in the party.

3. Moving on from tried and tested multiple-time CMs like Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Raman Singh and Vasundhara Raje: BJP, in the process, has also moved ahead from its senior leadership in all three states which was older and has held the chief minister’s crown multiple times. The Vajpayee-era leaders are now past their prime in state roles, the BJP indicates.

4. Big message to party cadre: The BJP aims to tell its ground workers that anyone can become the chief minister if they are disciplined and seniority does not matter. This is the biggest message as leaders who find space in the last queue in MLA group photographs can also become the CM if they fit the party criteria and are seen as capable. The target is clearly the 2024 elections of the Lok Sabha.

5. Roots in BJP important: All three chief ministerial choices have worked in ABVP in earlier days and are in the good books of the RSS. This is a message that the candidate is well-versed with the BJP philosophy from his early days and has been a committed worker since student days.