Elections 2019: How spate of entrants in the BJP will impact its prospects

With the entry of footloose politicians from other parties, the BJP projects itself as the most attractive political option.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seems convinced that the rush of entrants — prominent and low-profile — in the party over the past few weeks is a marker of the upper hand it holds over the Congress and the Opposition in the Lok Sabha polls. Defections and departures are normal before an election because it is not as though the Congress and other parties have not seen turncoats gravitating in search of tickets.

However, since 1996-- when the BJP began its independent ascent towards power in the Centre –it sought to beam larger signals through the political arch over rather than projecting it as a one shot move to grab a Lok Sabha seat. It was imperative for the BJP to establish itself as the prospective nucleus of a national pole and try and fill the vacuum that was visibly created by a Congress on the downslide. The tactic of pulling in even second and third-rank worthies from other parties was apiece with a larger strategy to show itself as the Congress’s alternative.

(Business Standard)

The latest round of desertions and defections was kicked off with the induction of four Gujarat Congress legislators, whose arrival was celebrated with added zest because it coincided with a Congress Working Committee meeting at Ahmedabad. In neighbouring Maharashtra, Sujay Vikhe Patil, the son of a Maratha leader of the Congress, Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, joined the BJP ostensibly because the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) refused to yield the Ahmednagar Lok Sabha seat to him. From the BJP’s stand-point, Vikhe Patil junior’s induction served three purposes: notwithstanding its recent success in Maharashtra, it has still to carve out a caste territory unlike its partner, the Shiv Sena, that has a committed following from the other backward castes. An upcoming Maratha leader was the sort of resource person it looked for.

Second, the desertion showed up the cracks in the Congress-NCP alliance, not that the BJP is free of issues with the Sena. Third, the move reinforced the BJP’s willingness to accommodate renegades with tickets without ado (so long as they brought value to the table) and take the politics of patronage and reward to another level.

Gujarat was another piece of business. Here, the BJP’s supremacy is unquestionable despite the setback it suffered in the 2016 assembly election. The Congress, that looked all set to revive, is getting hollowed out from inside with the exit of five MLAs, who went to the BJP and were promptly and suitably blessed. The blessing didn’t come without a tab. Nor were the legislators inducted for a lark.

Of the five (the first, Kunwarji Bavaliya crossed over in July 2018, was made a minister in the Vijay Rupani cabinet, and subsequently won a by-election), barring Asha Patel, all are from the backward castes. Bavaliya and Parsotam Sabariya are Koli, Vallabh Dharaviya is a Sathwara and Jawahar Chavda is an Ahir (Yadav).