Fly on the wall
Harish Gupta
BJP CMs Under the Glare
Even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi finalises the contours of his impending Cabinet reshuffle, whispers in the corridors of power suggest that changes may not be confined to Delhi alone. Leadership changes in a few BJP-ruled states are also being actively discussed.
A couple of chief ministers are facing allegations ranging from corruption to administrative inefficiency. In Uttarakhand, the Ankita Bhandari murder case continues to cast a long shadow over the government. In Arunachal Pradesh, Chief Minister Pema Khandu has come under scrutiny after the Supreme Court ordered a CBI probe in a case linked to him. Another BJP chief minister from a key northern state, who was elevated unexpectedly, is also facing criticism over allegations of favouritism and poor governance.
Interestingly, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has himself expressed a desire to play a role in national politics. Another senior BJP chief minister had remarked that he wished to serve one final term before accepting any assignment the party entrusted to him.
The BJP's record under Modi shows that no chief minister is indispensable. Since 2014, the party's central leadership has replaced at least 11 BJP chief ministers. B. S. Yediyurappa in Karnataka, Vijay Rupani in Gujarat and Biplab Kumar Deb in Tripura all stepped down before completing their terms.
Uttarakhand witnessed perhaps the most dramatic churn. Trivendra Singh Rawat was replaced by Tirath Singh Rawat in March 2021, who himself resigned within four months, paving the way for Pushkar Singh Dhami. Even Dhami is now under political scrutiny.
After the BJP's emphatic victory in the 2023 Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections, Shivraj Singh Chouhan was replaced by Mohan Yadav, who is now battling controversies of his own. Manohar Lal Khattar resigned as Haryana chief minister in March 2024 to make way for Nayab Singh Saini before moving to the Union Cabinet. Earlier, Sarbananda Sonowal made a similar transition from Assam to the Centre, while Anandiben Patel and Raghubar Das were accommodated as governors.
As Modi 3.0 settles in, the message from the BJP remains unchanged: performance, perception and political utility—not tenure—determine longevity in office.
Who gets on Board: Fadnavis or Yogi?
With Nitin Nabin taking over as BJP president, the 12-member Parliamentary Board, highest decision-making body though on paper as many say, may also be reconstituted. Besides BJP president Nitin Nabin, PM Modi, past presidents Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah and J.P. Nadda are its members besides B L Santosh, general secretary (Organisation). Nitin Gadkari was dropped for some unexplained reasons. Former chief ministers B.S. Yediyurappa and Sarbananda Sonowal were inducted as a consolation after being removed as Chief Ministers. The logic of inclusion of Iqbal Singh Lalpura, Sudha Yadav, K. Laxman, and Satyanarayana Jatiya were never explained either.
It is said that the board may be reconstituted. Interestingly, despite the BJP governing 16 states, not a single sitting Chief Minister has a place on the Board — a sharp contrast to the era when Shivraj Singh Chouhan held Board membership while serving as Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister.
There is a buzz that Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Yogi Adityanath may be brought in. Fadnavis is already a member of BJP's Central Election Committee. With Punjab in focus, some changes are expected.
Is Sujata the Heir to Naveen Babu?
Political circles in Odisha are agog with reports that Biju Janata Dal (BJD) supremo and former Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is projecting his close aide's wife, Sujata Raut Karthikeyan, as his successor.
She is the wife of former IAS officer V.K. Pandian who was perceived as Naveen's successor before the 2024 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. The BJP had built a narrative that Naveen Patnaik was grooming a "Tamil outsider" as his political successor which inflicted considerable political damage to the BJD.
After the electoral setback, Pandian retreated from the political limelight while his wife, Sujata Raut Karthikeyan, gradually emerged on the scene. A former IAS officer herself, Sujata is widely credited with conceptualising and implementing the Naveen Patnaik government's flagship women's empowerment initiative. She later resigned from the civil services.
Sujata has now formally joined the BJD. V.K. Pandian, had already stepped away from active politics after the election. Within BJD circles, there is growing speculation that Sujata could become the party's new public face and eventually emerge as Naveen Patnaik's political successor.
Interestingly, reports surfaced recently that Patnaik's
nephew nor other close relatives are keen to enter active politics. That has reportedly compelled the veteran leader to look beyond the family in his search for a political heir.
Cracks in the Iron Discipline!
For over a decade, the BJP prided itself on something its rivals could never match—iron discipline. Under Narendra Modi and Amit Shah, secrecy became institutional. Decisions were tightly guarded, dissent rarely escaped party walls, and adverse media coverage was swiftly countered, if not prevented altogether.
But the script appears to be changing.
A string of politically damaging stories has recently found its way into the public domain, prompting whispers that the BJP may be developing the very affliction it once mocked the Congress for—internal sabotage. Party insiders point to the land controversy involving Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, the subsidy row surrounding Rajasthan MP and Union Minister of State Bhagirath Choudhary, and the sustained political heat on Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. None of these stories, they say, could have surfaced without help from within. The fact that such reports have appeared in mainstream media has only fuelled speculation that the party's once-impenetrable information firewall is weakening.
Whether these are isolated power struggles or the early symptoms of a larger factional churn remains to be seen.
