Law Kumar Mishra
Patna, August 14
Bete-noire of Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, former chief minister of Devendra Fadnavis would lead the BJP in Bihar polls even as both the states had locked horns on the issue of Sushant suicide probe.
Fadnavis, the man conflicting with the Thackeray government as opposition leader, has been made BJP in-charge for assembly elections in Bihar. He will report to the party president J P Nadda and will have final say in the preparation of list of candidates for the elections.
Fadnavi’s ‘appointment has been welcomed by senior BJP leaders at Patna. Former union minister, C P Thakur said “Fadnavis is a seasoned leader. He will perform well during the elections.” Health Minister and former state BJP president Mangal Pandey said the former Maharashtra CM with his experiences as leader in his state who held the party to victories would guide the Bihar unit too.
Sanjeev Kumar Mishra, a party leader for the last 35 years claimed Fadnavis would prove a competent organiser. Shivesh Kumar, BJP state vice-president hoped Maharashtra leader would search and field winnable candidates.
His appointment is being seen as an attempt by the BJP leadership to cool down the spat between Bihar and Maharashtra on SSR issue and the role of the police of the two states and subsequent hard hitting statements from the leaders of the two states.
His presence in Bihar during the campaign would help cool down the anti-BJP sentiments too. Since June 14 after mysterious death of Sushant Singh Rajput, Bihari Ashmita (identity) issue was raised by almost all leaders of the BJP and they had attacked Mumbai police almost daily. Fadnavis will help the state BJP in explaining Maharashtra was not against Biharis.
Fadnavis will have the responsibility to help the party in campaign and conduct of the elections. Bhupinder Prasad Yadav, general secretary of the party since 2015 will have the responsibility of coordinating with the organisation.
Fadnavis will have the task to pacify the hurt LJP president Chirag Paswan too and convince him of having unity in the NDA. Chirag is publicly condemning Nitish Kumar and charging him with non-performance during floods and corona crisis.
In the past elections too, senior BJP leaders like Arun Jaitely and Ananth Kumar were in-charges of election affairs in Bihar. Dharmendra Pradhan used to assist them in the elections.
Fadnavis is well connected to the deputy chief minister, Sushil Kumar Modi, more than any other BJP leader in Bihar. Modi was chairman of the inter-ministerial committee on GST and chaired several meetings at New Delhi, Bangalore, Guwahati and Mumbai with Fadnavis being one of the members.
Modi is finance minister of Bihar since 2005. “Modi will have smooth and friendly ties with Fadnavis unlike Bhupinder Yadav”, commented a senior party leader here. It is like cutting to size Yadav, said another general secretary of the state BJP who declined to be named.
Fadnavis became active immediately as he chaired the meeting of the Core group of BJP leaders through video conference.BJP has decided to change its management at booth level and now 20 active party workers would take care of a booth than ten earlier. Decision was taken in view of the Election Commission announcement to set up 37000 additional booths to maintain social distancing.
Meanwhile, the HAM(S) led by the former chief minister, Jeetan Ram Manjhi will return to the NDA fold soon and Manjhi will campaign for the NDA.JDU will offer about ten seats to the party of former CM. Manjhi had deserted NDA in February 2018.He was feeling hurt in the Grand Alliance as RJD was ignoring him, party sources said.
