To counter Congress, BJP to give more tickets to OBCs in poll-bound states
BJP is planning to field more OBC candidates in upcoming assembly elections to counter the caste census plank of the Congress. In his rallies in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, Rahul Gandhi has been talking about a caste census and equitable distribution of resources to OBC communities.
The BJP's plan is to present itself as the party which is offering more soaps to the OBC community.
In Madhya Pradesh, the party has announced 136 candidates.
Out of that BJP has fielded 40 candidates from the OBC community making it 29 per cent of the announced list. In 2018, the BJP had given tickets to 39 per cent OBCs in Madhya Pradesh as against 40% by Congress.
The Congress is yet to announce its list and the BJP is planning to cross the 39 per cent of 2018 and give more than 40 per cent tickets for the OBCs.
Among the OBCs, it has given seven seats each to Lodh and Kurmi community, three more than 2018 in the list announced till date.
In Chhattisgarh, it has announced candidates for 85 seats out of 90.
Among those announced, 29 are from the OBC community. It had given tickets to 28 OBCs in 2018.
There are five seats where the party is yet to announce candidates and sources tell ET that three of them will be from the OBC community taking the number to 32 making it 36 per cent of the total seats. Congress had fielded 26 OBC candidates in 2018 and is yet to announce candidates for Chhattisgarh.
In Rajasthan, the BJP has announced candidates for 41 seats and out of that 15 have been given to OBC candidates.
