The centralising style of BJP president Amit Shah has become a subject of discussion among party functionaries following the set back in the recent by-elections, with the party losing 13 of 23 seats.
Those who are more charitable towards Mr Shah’s style point out that the party’s ‘Look East Policy’ of focusing on eastern states as new growth areas continues to deliver results. The party’s margin in Assam’s Silchar constituency more than doubled compared to the lead in Lok Sabha elections, while in West Bengal, the BJP is fast emerging as the alternative to Trinamool Congress, going by the by-poll outcome. There is enough scope for growth in Assam, West Bengal and Orissa that will compensate for the inevitable decline in 2019 in Uttar Pradesh where the party has peaked in 2014.
The campaign in Uttar Pradesh was highly centralised and allowing Yogi Adityanath to run it was Mr Shah’s strategy. A BJP leader from Uttar Pradesh also admitted that the Brahmins and Rajputs, two communities traditionally sympathetic to BJP, perceive that their stake in the Modi-Shah project is limited. The perceived sidelining of Brahmin leaders such as Kalraj Mishra and Lalji Tandon, and Rajput leader Rajnath Singh from UP matters will have to be corrected, he pointed out.
