The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has time and again followed the practice of changing chief ministers of the incumbent governments in various states, in order to do a course correction before and ensure the its governments remain stable. The reasons for this advance change of guard may vary depending upon the state, but this tactics for the saffron party have worked for the majority of times.
The latest example was Haryana, where the BJP-led incumbent government under the leadership of Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar resigned on Tuesday, and a new government under Nayab Singh Saini took the oath of office. But this is just not the only display of BJP's long-distance strategy as the party has followed this trend in other states as well in the past. Let's take a look at some.
Haryana
On March 12, Manohar Lal Khattar along with his entire Cabinet resigned and a new government was formed later in the evening under the leadership of BJP leader Nayab Singh Saini. The reason for the change of guard in the state was not any internal rift between party members but the party took the decision after seat-sharing talks with an alliance partner in the state Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) for the Lok Sabha elections failed to reach any conclusion.
Sensing if there could be some rift with the JJP in the coming days, the BJP showed pro-activeness and ended alliance with JJP.
The Khattar-led government resigned a year before Assembly elections in the state and formed a new government with the support of independents under the leadership of Nayab Singh Saini. The new government on March 13 passed the floor test.
Gujarat 2021
In 2021, BJP replaced incumbent Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani with Bhupendrabhai Patel, an year ahead of the completion of his term.
According to reports, what caused Vijay Rupani's exit as the state chief minister was his government's management during the second wave of Covid.
Gujarat was one of the worst hit states during the second wave of Covid when it lacked critical medical supplies including oxygen, medicines, hospital beds among other requirements.
Even the Gujarat High Court remarked that Vijay Rupani's government response during the second wave was not satisfactory and not transparent.
Being concerned about not so popular image of Vijay Rupani due to Covid management and other issues, the BJP once again applied change of guard.
The saffron party then picked Bhupendra Patel as the next chief minister of the state in its legislative party meeting.
The party's move to choose a 'Patel' community CM was also a calculated one as it served as an advantage to maintain its strong connection with the community in the state.
Uttarakhand 2021
Uttarakhand is another example where the BJP has changed the Chief Ministers before the completion of their terms.
But unlike other states, the saffron party replaced three chief ministers in the Dev Bhoomi, to ensure that its government remain stable. Though the strategy faced initial hiccups, but eventually paid off.
BJP changed three chief ministers in Uttarakhand within a span of four months in 2021, once again when a year ahead of the Assembly elections in the state.
On March 10, 2021, the incumbent Trivendra Singh Rawar, who had been holding the post for four years was replaced by Tirath Singh Rawat.
According to reports, Trivendra Singh was not in favour of organising the Kumbh mela, due to Covid.
Tirath was appointed the CM and the state organised the Kumbh mela, however, it was called off before its scheduled time.
Soon after that, Tirath was replaced by Pushkar Singh Dhami in July.
The reason given for Tirath's exit was that the election commission was not in a position to hold a by-election since the former who was a Lok Sabha MP from Garhwal, had to be elected as an MLA to continue CM.
The by-election was not possible before September and the party didn't want any constitutional crisis in the state, therefore, Tirath was replaced by Pushkar Singh Dhami.
But these moves played well with the saffron party as Dhami gave a stable government and helped BJP getting re-elected in next year's Assembly elections.
Karnataka 2021
In July 2021, BJP replaced the then Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa with Basavaraj Bommai. The reason for Yediyurappa's exit from the top state post came as he crossed saffron party's 75-year-old age limit criteria.
This move by the party came two years ahead of the Assembly elections in the state. Many analysts were also of the view that the BJP wanted to build upon the next batch of leadership in the state.
According to reports, Yediyurappa was offered Governor's post but he refused to accept it.
Before replacing Yediyurappa, BJP chief JP Nadda praised the former and met his sons to chalk-out his exit plans.
However, BJP replacing Yediyurappa with Basavaraj Bommai didn't yield the desired results in 2023 Assembly elections as the saffron party lost to Congress.
Political analysts were of the view that replacing Yediyurappa cost BJP lingayat votes.
Tripura 2022
Tripura was another state where BJP took the risk of changing the chief minister with months left for the Assembly polls.
In 2022, the BJP replaced the then Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb with state party chief Manik Saha.
According to reports, Biplab Kumar Deb was not that popular, made controversial remarks during his tenure which negatively impacted his image and didn't set an example of good administration.
Reports further said that Biplab Kumar Deb face rebellion within the party. Therefore, sensing all was not well in the government, the party replaced him with Manik Saha.
Another reason which prompted BJP to go ahead with the change of guard was that it didn't grow naturally in the state.
The rise of the BJP was due to the shift of many leaders from other parties, therefore, it was neccessary for the party to play safe in the state.
