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The contrast was stark. When supporters of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi apprehended that he would not be elevated as the chairman of the Campaign Committee of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) they resorted to slogan shouting in the streets, demonstrations before the party headquarters, even attacks on BJP patriarch L K Advani’s house to demand that Modi be appointed to the most crucial committee ahead of assembly elections.
But recently, Narendra Modi gave up that job and instead Rajnath Singh was given charge of the campaign committee there was not a sound from the cadres of the BJP. The fact is, this was an important move that could have farreaching ramifications for the party.
The irony is: this is exactly what L K Advani and other seniors in the party had suggested – that someone, anyone other than Modi hold the post because with so much on his plate as Chief Minister, Modi would not be able to do justice to an extremely demanding job. The Chairman of the campaign committee, as the name suggests, charts out the campaign, decides which leader will have optimal effect in which region, wheedles, cajoles and persuades allies to join, both pre and post-poll, decides the advertising campaign strategy and in many ways, decides the pulse of campaign. It goes without saying that he has a decisive say in candidate selection.
The plum that Rajnath Singh has been handed should have either gone to Sushma Swaraj or Arun Jaitley, both leaders of the opposition in either House. The supporters of both made no secret of the fact that they would like the job. Giving it to Singh is a classical Modi gambit.
When Modi was declared prime ministerial candidate, the party elders’ condition for his acceptance was that the job of coordinating the campaign must be done by him but he needed to come to Delhi to do it: so he needed to give up one. Modi has opted to keep the Gujarat chief ministership.
The second condition was that if he can’t give up Gujarat, the party needed a head of the campaign committee who was acceptable to all. The way the party put it, rule through proxies of Modi would not work. The fear was that those who did not have the hot line to Modi – and there are many such in the party – would be given short shrift while those who were close to the proxies would rule the roost.
By appointing Rajnath Singh, Modi has not only ensured no one gets close enough to him to take his name in vain, but also that the campaoign committee chief is the chief of the BJP, both de facto and de jure.
Sources in the BJP say being campaign committee chief is a full time job – and Rajnath Singh does nothing except this. They are quick to point out that Singh is offering no resistance to Modi, only total deference.
But that situation could change if the BJP gets under 150 Lok Sabha seats but is still the single largest party – and Singh has cobbled together post-poll alliances through a judicious campaign of hints and promises. It is possible that attracted by Singh’s affable non-threatening posture, more allies might be drawn to him than to Modi: making him an alternate prime ministerial figure, should more allies be needed after the 2014 poll result.
Either way, things are going to move at a fast clip now, as Singh is expected to reach out to allies starting later this week.
