BHOPAL (Madhya Pradesh): The BJP has turned MP into a laboratory of OBC politics, which has so far been a domain of UP and Bihar. OBC is given importance in the state these days.
After induction of Ramniwas Rawat into the cabinet, the number of OBC ministers, including Mohan Yadav, has gone up to 14. Out of 29 MPs, 11 belong to OBC category. Similarly, out of ten RS members from the state three come from OBC.
Next to OBC category, the number of ministers belonging to the SC is very high. Six ministers come from SC, five from ST and eight from category. There are six MPs from ST, four from SC and eight from the general category.
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The party has sent one ST, three OBC and three SC members to the Rajya Sabha. The Congress has one OBC and two general category members in the Rajya Sabha. Once, the BJP was identified as a Brahmin-Bania party. Most of its leaders were from the general category.
Nevertheless, the BJP has set aside this tag after coming to power in 2003 and gave OBC chief minister to the state. Uma Bharti, Babulal Gaur and Shivraj Singh Chouhan have been the chief ministers of the state. Now, Mohan Yadav is wearing the crown. All of them belong to the OBC category.
After the reservation issue of the OBC in civic body and Panchayat elections kicked up a row, the BJP tried to woo the category with full strength. Out of the total voters in the state, 45% belong to the OBC. This is the reason why, the BJP tried to woo all the sections of the OBC.
Former chief minister Kamal Nath also tried to rule the state by wooing the OBCs. Before the 2019 Lok Sabha election, Nath raised the issue of giving 27% of reservation to the OBC in government jobs, but the Congress lost 28 seats out of 29.
OBC members in cabinet
Besides Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, Prahlad Patel, Inder Singh Parmar, Aidal Singh Kanshana, Ramniwas Rawat, Karan Singh Verma, Uday Pratap Singh, Narayan Singh Kushwaha, Krishna Gaur, Narayan Singh Pawar, Dharmendra Lodhi, Dileep Jaiswal, Lakhan Patel and Narendra Patel are from OBC.
Union ministers, LS, RS members
Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Darshan Singh Choudhary, Rodmal Nagar, Bharat Singh Kushwaha, Rahul Lodhi, Ganesh Singh, Bharti Pardhi, Vivek Sahu, Gyaneshwar Patel, Lata Wankhede belong to the OBC. In the Rajya Sabha, Banshilal Gurjar, Maya Naroliya and Kavita Patidar come from this category.
