Besides the OBC meet in February, morcha meetings will be held with focus on SC/STs too
New Delhi: Days after Bihar’s OBC leader and Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) chief Upendra Kushwaha broke away from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) amid prolonged bitterness, the BJP has decided to hold an ‘OBC morcha’ on 15-16 February in Patna.
The BJP’s national office-bearers meet, chaired by party president Amit Shah Thursday, decided to hold the OBC meet in Patna in mid-February, BJP general secretary Bhupender Yadav announced. The meeting comes two days after the party’s poor show in the recent Assembly polls.
A two-day national council meeting of the BJP will take place on 11 and 12 January in Delhi. Yadav also said the party will hold a two-day Scheduled Caste morcha meeting in Nagpur starting 19 January, which will be attended by Shah, and a Scheduled Tribe morcha meeting in early February in Bhubaneswar. All these meetings are particularly crucial in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Also read: Upendra Kushwaha’s exit could undo BJP’s carefully planned Bihar caste coalition
After Kushwaha split, bid to keep OBC vote intact
The decision to hold an OBC meet in Patna is significant given the RLSP, which has three MPs in the Lok Sabha and two MLAs in Bihar, has the same social base — OBC Koeris and Kurmis — as Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, whose Janata Dal (United) is a key BJP ally. Thus, Kushwaha’s decision to part ways is expected to dent the NDA’s prospects in Bihar which has a significant OBC votebank.
Kushwaha, who accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “betraying” OBCs and giving Bihar only “jumlas (tall claims)”, has said he is open to joining the opposition alliance in the state that comprises the Congress and Lalu Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).
The Scheduled Caste morcha meeting is part of the BJP’s concerted and not-so-subtle effort to expand its votebase and woo the Dalit community. With its recent poll losses, the BJP knows it needs to get its election strategy right and establish a firm foothold in newer electorates and geographical territories if it wants to retain power in 2019.
Wooing Odisha tribals
The decision to hold the meeting of its tribal morcha in Odisha isn’t devoid of meaning either, and is part of the same strategy.
The party has been eyeing states like West Bengal and Odisha to compensate for seat losses in the heartland in 2019. Odisha has a significant tribal population. The BJP has believed that much like in Tripura, which it wrested from the Left, among other factors, bringing Odisha’s tribal population to its side will give it a push.