BETTING ON FRESH FACES

THE BJP USHERS IN A GENERATIONAL SHIFT IN THREE STATES AS THE CONGRESS DOES IN TELANGANA, TO GROOM THE LEADERSHIP OF THE FUTURE

- AMARNATH K. MENON & ANILESH S. MAHAJAN

Political parties are in the throes of a defining moment, at least in anointing chief ministers of states that have elected new legislative assemblies, even as the parliamentary polls loom large. The BJP has taken the lead in introducing generational change by picking three men, all in their 50s, exemplifying diversity. A first-time MLA, the 56-year-old Bhajan Lal Sharma is a Brahmin and the new chief minister of Rajasthan. An equally surprising pick is four-time chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s replacement in Madhya Pradesh—the 58-year-old Mohan Yadav, an OBC. Earlier, in Chhattisgarh, the saffron party installed another new face—that of 59-year-old Vishnu Deo Sai, who belongs to the Scheduled Tribes.

These changes, marking a tectonic shift in the political landscape, unfolded over three days, a week after results in three northern states announced the season of saffron. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah, in the company of BJP national president J.P. Nadda, took the call keeping in mind the long-term imperative of consolidation with continuity. Though the decisions had been taken on December 4 itself, just a day after the results came in, the trio waited a week before announcing the names in a staggered manner. A luxury that the Congress could ill afford in Telangana, India’s youngest state, where it wrested power from the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi with a slender majority. In demonstrating that it will not be left behind, the Grand Old Party made the strapping Anumula Revanth Reddy the chief minister of Telangana. The 54-year-old firebrand had joined the Congress only in 2017.