'EVERY POLL FACTOR IS IN BJP'S FAVOUR FOR 2024'

Fresh from the poll victories in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, BJP national president J.P. NADDA, in a candid chat with India Today Group Editorial Director RAJ CHENGAPPA and Deputy Editor ANILESH S. MAHAJAN, talks about what went behind these bigger than expected victories in the Hindi heartland, how the BJP's strategy to win these elections was chalked out and how it reaped the benefits of PM Modi's guarantees to the people. He also explains how the BJP plans to carry forward this momentum in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Excerpts

- RAJ CHENGAPPA, ANILESH S. MAHAJAN

Q. How crucial are the victories in the three states in the Hindi heartland for the BJP’s planning for the 2024 general election?

J.P. Nadda: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been recognised as a credible leader throughout India. He has taken care of every section of society—the common man, women, farmers and the marginalised—through ‘Modi’s guarantees’. Across the country, the common man feels that the country is secure in his able hands. In Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, the governments were facing anti-incumbency due to corruption, nepotism, deteriorating law and order and false promises to the youth. If the former had the red diary scandal, the latter was beset by the Mahadev App controversy. Paper leaks happened in both states. The youth were disgruntled, farmers felt cheated. But in Madhya Pradesh, there was pro-incumbency due to continuing development and youth and women’s empowerment. The purchasing capacity of farmers and other consumers had increased. In MP, the central government schemes reached the super-saturation stage, whereas in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, they refused to participate in central development programmes. The BJP party organisation was in a position to convert the positives as well as the anti-incumbency into votes.

Q. The BJP used a different technique this time, including bringing in heavyweight MPs to contest assembly polls. What was the strategy?

It was the need of the hour. If someone is needed somewhere, he has to go there. There was no anti-incumbency as such in Madhya Pradesh. But we thought of bringing in new leadership from the beginning. It is a continuous process. It was not against Shivraj