BJP tries to strike caste balance with new faces

As an antidote to 10-year anti-incumbency, the BJP has tried to balance caste equations, besides relying on 27 new faces in its first list of 67 candidates that was declared last night.

The BJP has followed its tried and tested social engineering formula of giving prominence to Other Backward Classes (OBCs), Scheduled Castes (SCs), Brahmins, Punjabis and Baniyas but its list also includes candidates from the Jat community, such as Capt Abhimanyu and Om Prakash Dhankar.

The maximum number of 14 candidates on the list belong to the OBCs, followed by SCs and Jats (13 each), Brahmins (9), Punjabis (8), Baniyas (5), and Rajputs and Sikhs (1 each).

In the run-to the October 5 Assembly elections, the BJP has declared its OBC face Nayab Singh Saini as the chief ministerial candidate while state BJP president Mohan Lal Badoli is a Brahmin. Saini had replaced Manohar Lal Khattar, a Punjabi, in March this year, a move seen as a desperate bid by the BJP to buck anti-incumbency in the elections.

In the caste-ridden Haryana politics, the BJP has often been accused of creating a Jat-non Jat narrative for electoral gains, a charge the party vehemently denies. “All 36 biradaris are equally represented on the BJP’s list of candidates. The BJP believes in ‘Haryana ek, Haryanvi ek’ to take all communities along for the state’s overall growth,” Badoli said.

Meanwhile, the BJP has fielded 27 new faces among 67 candidates, in line with its policy of giving a chance to new leaders. Among these new faces are nine candidates who have replaced sitting MLAs in the party’s efforts to beat anti-incumbency, sources said.

However, 18 of the fresh faces have been fielded on seats where the party had tasted defeat in the 2019 poll. The winnability of the candidates was the only criterion for fielding new faces. The party has not shied away from fielding fresh faces and party hoppers like Shruti Chaudhry from Tosham and Sanjay Kablana from Beri to retain these seats.

In the recent Lok Sabha poll, the BJP conceded five seats to the Congress as Jat and SC voters reportedly supported the Congress. The BJP in its first list of candidates has tried a caste composition to take care of the interests of these two communities, the sources said.

Haryana ek, Haryanvi ek

All 36 biradaris are equally represented on the BJP’s list of candidates. The BJP believes in ‘Haryana ek, Haryanvi ek’ to take all communities along for the state’s overall growth. — Mohan Lal Badoli, state BJP chief