New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be visiting poll-bound Maharashtra on Sunday to felicitate 11 lakhs new "Lakhpati Didis" who achieved this status during the third term of the BJP-led NDA government. Mr Modi's visit to Maharashtra comes at a time when the “original” party karyakartas and senior leader in the BJP are miffed with the Maharashtra leadership for importing leaders from other parties.
Besides felicitating the Lakhpati Didis, the Prime Minister in Maharashtra will also release a revolving fund of Rs 2,500 crores, which will benefit about 48-lakh members of 4.3 lakh self-help groups on Sunday.
Mr Modi is also scheduled to visit Rajasthan later in the day, where he is the chief guest at the concluding ceremony of the platinum jubilee celebrations of Rajasthan high court to be held on the Jodhpur high court campus. He will also inaugurate the high court museum.
Already facing a tough fight from the opposition alliance in the state, the BJP is currently busy mollifying the "original" leaders and karyakartas who are miffed with the party leadership for importing leaders from other parties.
In Maharashtra, where the party is already facing a tough fight from the Opposition alliance, the BJP poll managers are finding it tough to placate the originals, most of whom hold considerable influence in their particular areas. There is also resentment among the party karyakartas and state leaders against the allies, as they feel that the BJP did not benefit from its tie-ups with the Shiv Sena(Shinde) and the NCP(Ajit Pawar).
The BJP leadership, sources said, has been receiving complaints, including from senior leaders and karyakartas, against imported leaders and leaders of its alliance partners. In western Maharashtra, the BJP workers are unwilling to campaign for the Ajit Pawar-led NCP and Shiv Sena(Shinde). The BJP functionaries in the state are also up in arms over the party's repeated moves to import leaders from the rival political outfits.
With the Assembly elections slated for the end of the year, the BJP is now making attempts to soothe the frayed nerves of its state leaders and cadres. The BJP high command has been made aware that the constant push to get leaders from other parties had hit them hard in the Lok Sabha polls and could backfire yet again during the forthcoming Assembly elections.
With resentment brewing against the allied outfits, the BJP is now struggling to set its house in order in the poll-bound Maharashtra. Top leaders of the BJP and the RSS have been asked to approach the dissident camps and contain the resentment.
“If any leader is joining the BJP from another party, he brings his own people and workers, which means that a BJP worker working in that particular constituency becomes redundant. The Sena (Shinde) and NCP(Ajit Pawar) leaders don’t want the BJP workers but want the BJP votes… How will you explain it to the BJP worker who has been working on the ground for years?” a senior BJP leader, who has been asked by the party leadership to placate the party’s senior karyakartas in rural areas, said.
The BJP leadership is yet to sort out the seat-sharing formula for the coming polls with its allies. In the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP managed to win only 9 seats out of 23 contested, with the "Mahayuti" alliance only winning 17 of the total 48 seats. The SS (Shinde) won seven and the NCP (Ajit Pawar) won only one out of four contested.
There is also resentment over the “imported” leaders for becoming the “face” of the BJP in the media and even getting “awarded” with posts in boards, corporations and Legislative Councils.
“These imported leaders have nothing to do with our ideology…we are told by our workers and senior leaders that jinko laaye ho unse he bolo votes layenge (ask those who you have brought in the party to seek votes for the party)…even those workers who have joined the party in the past couple of years are miffed, leave alone senior karyakartas,” said a senior BJP leader.
