Saffron Heads South

The BJP plans to highlight casteism, corruption and dynastic politics to unseat regional parties in the south

- Pratul Sharma

The stunning turn of events in Maharashtra has sent out a larger political message. The BJP’s deft manoeuvring oversaw Shiv Sena rebel Eknath Shinde breaking away from the party and taking with him enough men to fell the Uddhav Thackeray government. The BJP not only rewarded Shinde with the chief minister’s post, but also made Devendra Fadnavis his deputy.

“The hidden message is to the leaders of all regional party-ruled governments. The BJP will support them if they want to switch sides, and also reward them politically,” a key party leader said in Hyderabad, where the BJP organised a two-day national executive meeting—July 2 and 3—to plan its southern expansion.

The mood at the meeting was upbeat, and a similar strategy was set in motion in Telangana, a day later. The state BJP unit appointed Eatala Rajender, a former state minister who had joined the party last year, as the in-charge of a panel on new entrants from other parties—a euphemism for poaching. Similar panels are expected in other states.

The party currently has only 29 of the 129 Lok Sabha seats in the five southern states (25 in Karnataka and four in Telangana), largely because it is seen as a north-Indian party.

The Telangana meeting hinted at its future plans in the region. As of now, the BJP does well in direct fights with the Congress, but hits a wall when faced with strong regional outfits. To take on these parties, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah presented a political resolution before the 340 executive members. “We want polity free of casteism, dynastic politics and appeasement,” Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said, quoting Shah’s message inside the meeting. Several southern BJP leaders whom THE WEEK spoke to repeated this message.