Devendra Fadnavis tipped to be Bihar BJP poll incharge

PATNA: Former Maharashtra chief minister (CM) Devendra Fadnavis is tipped to be the election incharge of BJP for the coming Bihar assembly polls. He took part in the state BJP’s core committee meeting held via video-conferencing on Thursday.
Senior party functionaries confirmed that Fadnavis will soon be announced as the Bihar election incharge even though state BJP president Dr Sanjay Jaiswal refused to confirm it.
“I am not aware of any such development. Fadnavis ji is a popular leader and he can be a part of the party’s poll campaign in Bihar. However, I have not received any communication from the party headquarters regarding him being made the election incharge for Bihar,” Jaiswal told TOI on Friday evening.
A state BJP minister, who participated in the party’s core- committee meeting, told TOI on condition of anonymity that Fadnavis was formally introduced in the meeting, which was chaired by Jaiswal.
“Fadnavis said he will stay in Bihar from September or whenever required and be here till the assembly polls. The party headquarters is likely to announce his name within a few days,” he said.
He added, “BJP has two incharge during state polls— state incharge and election incharge. In the 2015 assembly elections, Ananth Kumar was Bihar’s election incharge, while Bhupendra Yadav was and still is the state incharge.”
BJP’s national general secretary Bhupendra Yadav had teamed up with Fadnavis in the 2019 assembly polls in Maharashtra as the state’s election incharge, while Fadnavis was the CM seeking re-election. Fadnavis is currently the leader of Opposition in Maharashtra legislative assembly.
BJP insiders claimed caste factor behind the idea of bringing in the former Maharashtra CM. “Fadnavis is a Brahmin, while Bhupendra is Yadav. Getting together two senior functionaries at the helm of party’s election affairs in a highly caste-dominated state like Bihar will definitely prove beneficial for the party,” a state-level functionary said, wishing anonymity.
The development comes at a time when Bihar and Maharashtra governments are at loggerheads over the handling of the late Bollywood actor and Patna native Sushant Singh Rajput’s death case by Mumbai Police.
Fadnavis has been launching frontal attacks on CM Uddhav Thackrey and is likely to utilize the emotional dimension in the issue during the elections. Sushant’s death in Mumbai on June 14 has erupted as a major political issue in Bihar, especially after CM Nitish Kumar recommended a CBI inquiry into the case.