Nearly one and a half years after incumbent Gujarat BJP president C. R. Paatil was inducted into the Union Cabinet as Jal Shakti Minister, the state party has got a new president – Jagdish Panchal alias Vishwakarma, minister of state cooperation minister.
Naming Vishwakarma as the new state party president is a smart move by the party as it has done a balancing act between the Patels and the OBCs. With Bhupendra Patel as the chief minister, the party now has an OBC leader Vishwakarma as the state party president.
History: He is the third OBC president of the Gujarat BJP after party stalwarts Kashiram Rana and Vajubhai Vala. Vala later on also served as Karnataka Governor.
He is 11th state party president.
Election Process a formality: The election process was merely a formality as the party did not receive nomination from any other person. Accompanied by a large number of supporters, Vishwakarma filed his candidature at the party’s state headquarters – Shri Kamalam – in Gandhinagar.
Challenges for Vishwakarma: This 52-year-old new state party president has an uphill task of keeping the rank and file of the party together and also improving the party’s performance in the civic elections that are due by the end of the year. Though the BJP is in the power in majority of the civic bodies – municipal corporations, taluka panchayats and district panchayats – the party would expect to better its past performances.
The state will also go for assembly polls by the end of 2027. The BJP already has 162 out of the 182 assembly seats and it will be a challenging task for this three-time MLA from Nikol in Ahmedabad to steer the party to come up with a better performance.
Considered close to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Vishwakarma will also have to smartly tackle the internal infighting within the party.
Delayed appointment: Though picking up Vishwakarma is a smart move by the BJP, the appointment is much delayed. Paatil’s tenure as the state party president had ended much before he was inducted in the Union Cabinet.
Vishwakarma’s name was on the top of the list when it came to naming Paatil’s successor. However, it was not easy for the party for it needed a leader that would be acceptable to all.
Paatil’s tenure: Paatil’s six-year-long stint as the state party president saw many highs and lows. He began with a bang in 2020, soon after the appointment. He paid a visit to each district in the state and interacted with party leaders and workers.
In 2022, he led the party to its best electoral performance. The BJP won 157 out of the 182 seats.
However, as the time passed, it is alleged that indiscipline increased within the party. One of the simplest examples is that of the letters written by party MLAs and leaders to the Chief Minister highlighting various issues. The BJP considers itself as a party with a difference and the matters are supposedly solved within the party. However, these letters used to get viral immediately after they were written.
The Amreli episode also got a bad name for the BJP. In what was an internal fight between the BJP leaders and one leader writing a letter against another leader, a Patidar girl – Payal Goti’s name – was dragged. She was arrested and even taken out on the streets in the name of recreating the crime scene.
This led to widespread protests cutting across party lines and put the BJP in an embarrassing position. The state government had to also appoint an SIT.
Furthermore, lately it was alleged and it appeared that the centre of power had shifted to Surat, the region from where Paatil hails. There were even allegations that a parallel government was run from South Gujarat.
Sources in the know of the political developments feel that Vishwakarma is expected to break on all these things.
More about Vishwakarma: A master’s degree holder, Vishwakarma had begun his political journey as booth in-charge for the BJP in 1998. He was also Ahmedabad unit president of the BJP between 2015 and 2021. Under his leadership in 2021, the BJP won 160 out of the 192 seats in Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation.
The official announcement of his election will be made on Saturday.
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