Major changes in organisation also on cards; BJP aims to correct caste and regional imbalances to enhance poll returns
As the BJP and RSS leaders held their marathon coordination meeting this week to scale up Government-party coordination and identify Lok Sabha constituencies in Uttar Pradesh where the party is weak, major changes in the organisation and an expansion of the Council of Ministers are expected in the days to come to correct 'caste and regional imbalances' to enhance the poll returns.
With temple politics also attaining centre-stage in BJP's electoral calculations in UP and the Supreme Court starting hearing the Ayodhya title suit on October 29, the Yogi Adityanath Government is contemplating the expansion. Party leaders feel, this would further give a leg-up to the BJP's prospects in the Lok Sabha polls pitched as it would be against a likely formidable alliance of the SP and BSP in a State where the BJP bagged 71 of the 80 parliamentary seats in 2014.
BJP president Amit Shah, who had a 7-hour discussion with state BJP and RSS leaders on Wednesday in Lucknow, had many consultation rounds earlier too to work-out the expansion to give added flesh and blood to the BJP's poll campaign in the run-up to the 2019-Lok Sabha elections. Party leaders detailed the weaker constituencies in the state and also reviewed the ongoing party programme to clean up the fake voters and enlist supporters. This exercise will be completed by the month-end.
"We were told that a rejig is possible around the festival time. The top leaders would take a decision depending on the feedback from within the State as also from the other States going to polls in next two months," said a senior leader and MP from west UP referring to the tough contest in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
A subtle suggestion from the upper castes is that 'samman' to Brahmins in the Cabinet could pep-up Rajasthan scene where Brahmins constitute around 11 to 12 per cent besides impacting the adjoining areas of Madhya Pradesh. The UP cabinet has eight Brahmins, which constitute a little over 9 per cent of the populace and seven from the Thakur community, which is about 6.5 per cent in the State and to which Adityanath also belong s to though he has a title 'Yogi' that seeks to overarch the caste considerations. The demand for "effective" Brahmin representation has been made vis-Ã -vis Thakurs who are numerically less but seemingly dominate the administration.
A section of Brahmin leaders in the State assert that due to the community's support only the BJP could return to power in UP "after 15 years and 11 days" when it had "deserted the party."
Besides eight Brahmins and seven Thakurs, there are 17 Other Backward Classes and Most Backward Class members , seven dalit and eight vaishyas in the UP Cabinet.
The caste arithmetic had been adequately taken into the consideration by the Chief Minister, last year, but it is now calculated by the party that a heavy dose of SCs and OBCs in the Council of Ministers could give a boost to the party in the Lok Sabha polls which could be a tough fight if the caste-based parties like BSP (jatav dominated) and SP (Yadav dominated) join hands in the state against the BJP .
There are three dalits in the Ministry of which one is of Cabinet rank and two are Ministers of State. There is only one Yadav as Minister of State in Girish Yadav, an MLA from Jaunpur Sadar.
"The induction from the Jatav community to which Mayawati belongs and that from Yadav, the dominant OBC caste, could help BJP widen its base against the main rivals in the State", said another key leader and a BJP MP. Currently, there are around 25 upper caste Ministers including the Chief Minister.
The State leaders also spoke about correcting the regional imbalance in the cabinet away from Lucknow-Allahabad centric focus. Leaders complained that though BJP swept Bundelkhand by winning all the 19 seats in the region, it included only one MLA Swatarntra Deo Singh in the council of ministers.
Similarly, state leaders from the West UP point out that the Yogi Ministry has not given representation to the districts of Muzaffarnagar, BIjnore and Meerut.
A view in the party is that though the temple run could create the "right momentum" across the caste spectrum, an expansion (not reshuffle) in the Yogi Ministry could help the party consolidate in specific caste communities, particularly the backwards. State leaders and MPs are, however, keeping their fingers crossed to see whether the central leaders would go for the changes in UP before or after the Assembly poll results (December 11).