Team News Riveting
Raipur, August 17
With over a year left for the state polls, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Chhattisgarh is on a drive to overhaul the organisation and propel the cadre into the election mode.
In the series, the party today changed its Leader of Opposition in the Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly. Three-time MLA Narayan Chandel has been elected as the new BJP legislative party leader in the state assembly, replacing Dharamlal Kaushik.
Like Kaushik (64), 57-year-old Chandel too belongs to Kurmi caste, the Other Backward Class (OBC) community having a numerical sway among the state’s electorate. Chandel represents Janjgir-Champa constituency and is a former Deputy Speaker of state assembly.
Just a week ago, the BJP replaced its State Unit Chief Vishnu Deo Sai and appointed Bilaspur Member of Parliament Arun Sao as Party President.
The two crucial appointments in the Chhattisgarh BJP, set aside the caste factor as Sao also belongs to OBC, the saffron camp seems to be working on a big strategy. Both the leaders are new to party cadre in many pockets of the state. Bestowing bigger responsibilities to such leaders speaks to the gravity of the plan.
According to political analysts, by projecting leaders having low profile, the BJP has given an overt signal that the organisation will contest the election with full might. In the last three and a half years, the Congress government-led by Bhupesh Baghel has never faced a big resistance from the BJP.
With the allegation that most of the senior leaders have reportedly failed to deliver, the party preferred to bet on unfamiliar face. For, the party leadership had feedback that it would be a daunting task to mobilise the cadre with the old faces.
