There are two kinds of Chief Ministers in India. The first kind includes popular icons of regionally focused parties. They have a stronghold on their posts and are the only hope and face for their parties.
On the other hand, there are Chief Ministers that are in-office as per the choice of the BJP or Congress leadership. They can be posted and removed from office at the sweet will of the party’s central administration.
This has also made the regional party leader a more powerful Chief Minister with a grip on their office. During the pick and Drop, the Chief ministers of BJP and Congress have no stronghold on the office.
They can easily be promoted to the CM office and even removed within minutes at the choice of party leadership. This is taking place when the party feels that they need a more advantageous Chief Minister for party benefits.
There are innumerable examples like the removal of Uttarakhand CM Trivendra Singh Rawat, Tirath Singh Rawat, or Karnataka’s CM B. S Yeddyurappa. Recently, Gujarat’s CM Vijay Rupani and Punjab’s CM Captain Amrinder Singh were removed.
All these 4 states shall have elections in the coming months and the party found other candidates more beneficial for it. The top leadership found it appropriate to replace them for political benefits in the polls.
On the other side, the regional party icons like Arvind Kejariwal, Mamta Banerjee, Stalin, Uddhav Thackery, etc are developing a more strong image.
They are gradually proving to be strong competition for Prime Minister Modi’s face. The BJP and Congress are changing CM as per the new analysis. It is either done to repair the damage done by the previous CM or set a stage for gaining a particular community Vote.
The pick and drop of Congress and BJP Chief Ministers raises the question of whether CM face is the main way to get votes in the election.
The use of CM’s face is also done along with the Personality use of PM Modi and the Gandhi family members. Although, there is no specific answer because many other circumstances and demographics play an important role.
Another important trend to note is that the authority and power over the CM post lie within the hands of the political parties like BJP and Congress. The CM is the leader of the political party that receives the major seats in the State Assembly.
But, that does not undermine that the Chief Minister is an important government position and the executive head of the state. The leadership of these parties has made the CM post a puppet after securing majority seats by placing and dropping CM. This shift is made over the sweet will and benefit of these parties.
The election preparation by BJP and Congress in state elections has been reduced to the popularity of the CM more than his performance. Even if performance is considered then there are fewer discussions for further plans and more jabs.
There are direct or indirect comments over internal competition among members in the party to acquire CM posts. The internal politics in the BJP and especially the congress is taking an important role in the upcoming elections. This has also increased the defection of MLA before elections as seen during the West Bengal elections.
Vijay Rupani and Trivendra Singh Rawat were replaced to get a more popular face and to some extent conceal the gaps in their performances.
On the other hand, popular faces like Captain Amrinder Singh and B.S Yediyuraapa were popular and senior party leaders with a big political career.
They created a base for their respective parties in their region, but it took just a short time for the party to remove them.
In the case of Congress, the party had strong leadership beginning from the term of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. However, there has been a leadership crisis for some time now. It has been a reason for discontent among several party members.
Still, it went on with its decision to change the CM face just before the elections. It has only 3 CM under it and the rest of the two states are also under a public leadership competition. Captain Amrinder Singh has been a senior party member who led to the growth and Win of Congress in 2017.
Still, he was shown the doors. This has increased the anticipation for a bitter competition post-elections (in case they win).
In the case of BJP, it has popu leadership faces like PM Modi at the national level and Yogi Adityanath at the state level. CM Yogi managed to save his seat in contrast to other states owing to his popularity.
The CM of Gujarat, Karnataka, and Uttarakhand has been changed before the upcoming state polls. Even the seat of Haryana and Madhya Pradesh CM seems to be under suspicion due to various shortcomings.
In other cases, BJP went ahead with a more popular face for CM than the former CM after elections like in the case of Assam. Even the real test for CM Yogi lies in the upcoming UP elections.
This trend has brought noteworthy results. The leaders of Regional parties are creating a more strong image than the BJP-Congress CM in the office till the sweet will of the central party leadership. It’s an important trend for politics as well as administration that needs to change for the betterment of the public.
Also Read : Vocational Training Is Important In India To Reduce The Dependence On Employment In Traditional Sectors