How different is BJP's present high command from that of the Congress?

New Delhi: A Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting was to be held in Jaipur on the evening of September 25 last year to elect a new chief minister of Rajasthan, replacing Ashok Gehlot.

But the meeting, called by the Congress high command to hand over the reins of the government to Sachin Pilot, never took place. Gehlot was supposed to file his nomination papers for the Congress president's elections after quitting the chief minister's post.

Legislators, numbering over 90, loyal to Gehlot held a parallel meeting at former minister Shantilal Dhariwal's residence to issue an ultimatum to the Congress high command that if it intends to hand over the power to Pilot there would be a revolt within the party with all of them resigning from the assembly.

Then Congress president Sonia Gandhi deputed senior leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Ajay Maken to preside over the meeting and ensure a smooth power transfer. What happened next is history. Gehlot continued to be the chief minister while Kharge was elected as the Congress president.

The Congress high command visibly looked helpless to take any action against the defiant legislators. Its vulnerability was further exposed during the just-concluded assembly elections as Gehlot managed to get tickets for all his loyalists barring former chief whip Mahesh Joshi. This is Congress for you.

Now, come to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The BJP high command had not named its chief ministerial faces in the assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. It had decided to take that call after the polls.

Former Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje was initially sidelined but as the elections progressed, the BJP high looked to have surrendered before her as many of her loyalists were given the tickets. Similarly, former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was understood to continue on the post despite the BJP high command asking seven Members of Parliament, including three union ministers to contest the polls. In Chhattisgarh, three-time chief minister Raman Singh was considered the natural choice.

These names grabbed the media headlines for initial 2-3 days after the results were declared on December 3. Subsequently, Raman Singh's name was replaced by Renuka Singh as those being among the top chief ministerial aspirants in Chhattisgarh.

However, the BJP high command had other plans. The first googly came in the form of Vishnu Deo Sai who was named as the new chief minister of the tribal-dominated state.

This was followed by a yorker that clean bowled Chauhan while Mohan Yadav was named the new chief minister of Madhya Pradesh.

The final blow came in Rajasthan where the BJP high command dismissed Raje with what is called a 'doosra' in cricket parlance. First-time legislator Bhajan Lal Sharma was named the new chief minister of the desert state.

The three BJP backbenchers or lightweights and now chief ministers were apparently the most searched names on Google in the past few days because hardly anyone outside their respective states had heard about them.

That shows the power and the writ of the present BJP high command.