Win or lose, BJP backs its former CMs for second innings!

New Delhi: When the assembly elections of five states started, Yogi Adityanath was the only Chief Minister, for whom the BJP made announcement that the party will be contesting election in UP on his face and was declared the next CM as well, if the party came to power.

In the rest of the states, the BJP did not declare its contenders. In Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur, the Chief Minister was contesting the elections but the party was not contesting in their names. Votes were not being sought in the name of making these leaders as the Chief Minister, yet again.

In this respect, Yogi Adityanath was above his counterparts. He was the ‘first among equals’ as Chief Minister in whose name the party was contesting elections. But after the election the situation changed.

Now all the four chief ministers are equal because like Yogi, the other three chief ministers have also been repeated by the BJP. So, now everyone’s position is same. No one is first among equals. Even Pushkar Singh Dhami, who lost the election in Uttarakhand, has been made the Chief Minister by the party.

He is possibly the second leader after Mamata Banerjee, who lost the election and is still becoming the Chief Minister. People have been becoming ministers, but there is no example of a leader who lost the election has gone on to become the chief minister.

After the election, a senior leader, engaged in the exercise of deciding the Chief Minister in the four states, in an informal conversation, admitted that winning the elections in the four states is a big deal for the BJP. In the last elections, the BJP had formed the government in Goa and Manipur, but this time the party has won a majority in both these states.

Earlier, in the states ruled by the BJP, it was either losing the elections or somehow the majority was being juggled. Except Gujarat and Haryana, the BJP did not make a comeback in the rest of the states.

That is why it is being said that soon after the results, the party high command had decided that the Chief Ministers under whose command the party has won will get the reward of victory.

Still, if it took more than 10 days to finalise the names, it was because the party high command had to work out a consensus among the state leaders so that no question would arise. However, now the challenge before the party is to make Pushkar Dhami an MLA within six months.