Will Dharmendra Pradhan Be Next BJP President?

Mr Pradhan's understanding of realpolitik and organisational dynamics makes him the ultimate party man, notes Aditi Phadnis.

With its stunning Haryana results -- 48 of the 90 seats, surpassing its earlier tally -- the Bharatiya Janata Party does not need Independent MLAs. However, three independent MLAs have announced support for the BJP.

For at least one, Devender Kadyan, it is ghar wapasi. Mr Kadyan was in the BJP, but was denied the party ticket. He contested and won the Ganaur (Sonipat) seat as a rebel, defeating the BJP candidate, Dinesh Kaushik, decisively.

He turned rebel alleging that the BJP had 'bought and sold' tickets.

Another, Rajesh Joon, was the rebel Congress candidate from Bahadurgarh who has crossed the floor and is now supporting the BJP.

Micromanaging the election and later getting the support of rebels was largely because of the efforts of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who was in charge of the BJP's election management in Haryana.

Managing rebels is complicated business, more so for the BJP, which is in power. There is bound to be anti-incumbency against sitting MLAs.

But if you deny them re-nomination, they can turn rebel and cause extensive damage.

The idea is to prevent them from turning rebel in the first place.

Where reasonable negotiation fails, fear and greed are employed.

In some cases, rebels from the other side need to be actively encouraged.

The Congress caved in and gave the ticket to all 28 sitting MLAs.

Fourteen of them lost. But the BJP, which had more rebels than the Congress, negotiated with many, including their team of workers.

Mr Pradhan was chief negotiator and camped in Haryana for over a month, cajoled, threatened and threw 'resources' at possible spoilers, which included disgruntled party workers and the candidates themselves.

This is not to say that his interventions were entirely successful.

Mr Kadyan is one example (his remarks about commerce in seat allocation are apparently being ignored now).

But Mr Pradhan's challenge was to ensure the BJP rebels lost and the official candidate won.

Most BJP rebels, including high-powered ones like Ranjit Chautala, once minister in the Saini government, lost.

This is a skill Mr Pradhan has acquired after years in Odisha politics. He is from Talcher, central Odisha.

His father, Debendra Pradhan, was active in politics and became a minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.

Dharmendra became an activist with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad while studying as a higher secondary student in Talcher College and later became president of the students union of Talcher College as a first-year fresher.

For a young BJP activist, it was hard working in Odisha. Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L K Advani's bonds with Biju Patnaik meant the BJP could not attack the ruling party in the state.

It was akin to fighting with both hands tied behind your back.

Those who managed the impossible feat of keeping their balance while having a foot in two boats -- the BJP and later the Biju Janata Dal -- were more successful in politics rather than a doughty BJP fighter like Mr Pradhan.

One example is Ashwini Vaishnaw, who started out as a bureaucrat and served with Vajpayee with the blessings of Naveen Patnaik, got a Rajya Sabha seat, and is now a highly valued minister in the Modi government, though he still can't bring himself to attack his previous mentor who is in the Opposition.

By contrast, Mr Pradhan, who toiled long and hard for the BJP, built it up in Odisha and helped install the party in government, now commands the loyalty of the largest number of BJP MLAs in the state legislature party but was not made chief minister.

As oil and gas minister in Narendra Modi's first tenure, first as minister of state and later as Cabinet minister, he stewarded the Ujjwala yojana, including the 'Give It Up' campaign. The party doesn't talk about that much these days.

He got the skill development portfolio in 2017, just after demonetisation, a period that was devastating for those who aspired to placements.

The pandemic followed, dealing another death blow.

Now, as minister for education, Mr Pradhan is trying to manage the controversies around the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test and paper leaks while seeking to leave his own stamp on the sector.

Mr Pradhan is not an especially charismatic leader or brilliant orator. But his understanding of realpolitik and organisational dynamics makes him the ultimate party man.

He had overseen assembly elections for the BJP in Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, and, of course, Odisha, before Haryana.

In his own state, there isn't a party worker he doesn't know by name, even the ones who have turned rebel: And he is not averse to reaching out to rebels even if he himself was responsible for having them dropped in the first place.

It will be no surprise to anyone if he is named BJP president at the end of J P Nadda's term later this year.

The party has never had a president from the east.

His supporters say they see, in the way Mr Pradhan works with colleagues, an uncanny reflection of Union Home Minister Amit A Shah. They may be right.

Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com