BJP sticks to its tradition of having upper caste state president in MP

Notwithstanding its repeated claims of giving prominence to tribal, Scheduled Caste, and women leaders, the BJP stuck to its years-long tradition in Madhya Pradesh by formally announcing Betul MLA Hemant Khandelwal, an upper caste leader, the state unit head on Wednesday.

Khandelwal, a Vaishya by caste, is the sixth consecutive upper caste state BJP president since 2006.

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The incumbent state president, Vishnu Dutt Sharma, is a Brahmin by caste. He had two back-to-back terms from 2020 onwards. Before him, Rakesh Singh, a Thakur, was the MP BJP chief from 2018 to 2020.

Former Lok Sabha member from Khandwa late Nandkumar Singh Chauhan was state president from 2014 to 2018. He too was a Thakur.

Narendra Singh Tomar, another Thakur, was the state president for three terms, from 2012 to 2014, and twice before that from 2006 to 2010. Tomar is currently the Speaker of the Madhya Pradesh State Assembly.

Late Prabhat Jha, a Brahmin, was the state president from 2010 to 2012.

Besides having upper caste state presidents, the BJP has continuously appointed OBC chief ministers in the state since 2003. Uma Bharti from 2003 to 2005, late Babulal Gaur from 2005 to 2007, Shivraj Singh Chouhan from 2007 to 2018, and then again from 2020 to 2023, were all OBC CMs.

Dr Mohan Yadav, who was made the CM in 2023 is also an OBC.

This way, the party stuck to a formula of combining an OBC CM with an upper caste state president, because the upper castes and OBCs constitute the largest percentage of voters in Madhya Pradesh.

In continuation of this formula, newly-declared state president Hemant Khandelwal was already set to become the party chief. His appointment became a certainty on Tuesday evening itself when he turned out to be the only candidate to file nomination for the post during the nomination process at the BJP State headquarters at Bhopal.

Election incharge and Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Wednesday officially announced Khandelwal’s name as the state president.

Besides Khandelwal, Lata Wankhede, a member of the Lok Sabha from Sagar, was in contention. If chosen, she would have become the first-ever woman president of the MP BJP.

Two tribal leaders, Union Minister Durgadas Uikey, and Lok Sabha member from the Khargone constituency Gajendra Patel were also in the race. However, the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) completely ignored them. Leave alone considering their names for the post, they didn’t even allow them to file their nominations.

Consequently, Hemant Khandelwal was chosen unopposed. He was a favourite of MP CM Dr Mohan Yadav besides having fine-tuning with the RSS.