BJP moves to consolidate votes in Bihar, to pull out Madhya Pradesh playbook

Following the NDA government’s announcement of a slew of welfare programmes for Bihar ahead of the State Assembly polls, the BJP has got down to people management, pulling Bhojpuri singer Pawan Singh back into the NDA fold, and has plans to field senior BJP leaders, including Union Ministers, in the crucial contest.

Mr. Kumar has had a chequered history with the BJP, which expelled him last year, but his rebellion and subsequent candidacy from Karakat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections led to the defeat of the Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM), an NDA ally. RLM chief Upendra Kushwaha had expressed bitter feelings about this “sabotage”.

However, the BJP top leadership is keen to avoid scattering of votes in what is expected to be a tight fight between the NDA and the Mahagathbandhan and hence has managed a rapprochement between Mr. Kushwaha and Mr. Singh.

According to top sources in the BJP, this is only the first of the many steps taken to consolidate votes for the NDA, in what they call the “Madhya Pradesh model” of fighting polls. Mr. Singh is to rejoin the BJP and likely fight from Ara.

“If you recall the Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls, the BJP government there first announced measures like the Laadli Behena income support scheme, and as candidates were set to be announced, poll in-charge Bhupendra Yadav and even Home Minister Amit Shah had camped in places like Jabalpur where there was a huge internal issue over claims for party ticket to contest the election. Apart from that, seven sitting Lok Sabha MPs, including three senior Ministers in the Modi government — Narendra Tomar, Prahlad Patel, and Faggan Singh Kulaste, were fielded to boost morale and ensure that the party puts its strongest faces forward,” said a senior source in-charge of the polls.

Thus, BJP general secretary in-charge of Bihar Vinod Tawde worked hard to ensure that Mr. Singh was not out of the NDA camp cutting its votes. The NDA government also launched the “Dashazaari” or the ₹10,000 support to women scheme in Bihar. “Now, senior Ministers in the Modi government and some MPs and even MLCs in the Bihar Legislative Council will find their names in the candidate list for the Assembly polls. Many have already been sounded out, said the source.

“The basic thing is that after the demise of Sushil Kumar Modi, there is no BJP leader who has a hold over either the public or the party organisation. Hence, we need the fire power of Lok Sabha MPs and Union Ministers in the fray,” added another leader.

This time, the Bihar Assembly election is riddled with some consequential questions such as the fate of the Jan Suraaj Party, floated by Prashant Kishor, and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s health condition. Under these circumstances, the BJP is looking at its past successful playbooks for a strategy.