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Ranchi: The induction of 51-year-old Annapurna Devi, a first-time MP from Koderma in the Narendra Modi cabinet could surprise many other aspirants and leaders in the saffron camp in Jharkhand, but political experts maintained that the move is in view of consolidating OBC vote bank, which forms a major chunk after the tribals, for BJP’s mission 2024.
Though the BJP had decimated the UPA in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls by winning 12 out of 14 parliamentary seats, six months down the line, the saffron party was thrown out of power in the Assembly elections that year, despite offering the state its first stable government for a full five-year term. One of the key reasons for the party’s rout during the 2019 Assembly elections was division of OBC votes due to the split between BJP and its long-time ally, AJSU-P. Both the parties fought separately and suffered major setbacks in OBC pockets.