By Kavita Mistry 
Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh BJP’s newly elected state president Hemant Khandelwal sent a stern message to party workers in his first address to them Wednesday: “those committed to the party will be respected while those who waver will face consequences.”
Khandelwal, two-time legislator from Betul, was considered a front-runner for the post and elected unopposed, having been the sole candidate to file his nomination papers Tuesday.
He was given charge by outgoing unit chief V.D. Sharma at the BJP headquarters in Bhopal in the presence of senior leaders, including former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, former state home minister Narottam Mishra, and state minister Kailash Vijayvargiya.
In his address to BJP workers, Khandelwal emphasised his family’s contribution to the party. “My family has been fighting the Congress for over 100 years. It was first my grandfather who contested against the Congress in the 1930s, this was followed by my father who was elected district president of Betul in 1980 and went on to become MP four times (Betul Lok Sabha seat) and also the state treasurer.”
“After my father, this responsibility was passed on to me. My job over the years in the party has been to keep a tab on where the money will come from and where it will go.”
Taking a jibe at the Congress, Khandelwal said: “Within BJP, we hold such big elections and all seniors and everyone comes together to support candidature of the same person. If the Congress can replicate such an election even at their block level, we will honour them.”
“In our party, discipline is of utmost importance, we respect each other and work with each other,” he added, exhorting cadres to maintain discipline and act accordingly in society.
He further stressed that with his election as state chief, he had not been given a position but a responsibility.
Hemant Khandelwal’s career
While Hemant Khandelwal’s father Vijay Khandewal was a four-time MP from Betul, he himself entered electoral politics after his father’s demise in 2007.
He contested in 2008 the bypoll necessitated by his father’s demise, and then CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan held multiple sabhas across Betul district to ensure the junior Khandelwal emerged victorious.
On Wednesday, Chouhan emphasised that it was Hemant Khandelwal who proposed the idea of a school with all necessary facilities that led to the creation of CM Rise schools in Madhya Pradesh.
Khandelwal as an independent businessman also has investment in dairy, agriculture and food and agro products, and played a pivotal role in Madhya Pradesh inking an MoU with the National Dairy Development Board for revamping of MP’s dairy cooperative sector.
Back in Betul, he along with senior Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) functionary Suresh Soni, was also seen as instrumental in setting up Bharat Bharati, model residential school for tribals. Closeness between the two is being seen as one of the reasons behind Khandelwal’s appointment as president of the state BJP unit.
“In the Lok Sabha elections after the appointment of Mohan Yadav as CM, Hemant Khandelwal was appointed as convener for election management, overseeing the strategy, finances, among other nitty-gritties. Earlier, he was given charge of election management in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. He further played a pivotal role in Operation Lotus that led to the fall of the Kamal Nath-led Congress government in Madhya Pradesh,” a BJP leader from MP told ThePrint.
After his 2008 victory, Khandelwal had to wait until 2013 to get a ticket to contest the Assembly elections. Between 2010 and 2013, he served as district president of Betul.
A second BJP leader said that much like his father, the junior Khandelwal played an important role in strengthening the party organisation. “Hemant Khandelwal was instrumental in setting up BJP district offices across the state on the lines of how he got an office built in Betul itself. The new party office being constructed in Bhopal is also being overseen by him,” said the leader.
With Mohan Yadav himself getting elected as an MLA for the first time in 2013, much like Khandelwal, the two are seen as contemporaries. According to BJP leaders, when it came to the appointment of Yadav as chief minister and Khandelwal as state president, Soni too played a pivotal role which also emphases his growing hold on state politics.
“The decision (to give the reins to Khandelwal) has been taken to ensure effective coordination between the government head and the organisation head. Mohan Yadav was also keen on putting forward someone who was previously not active in the state capital,” the second BJP leader said.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
Also Read: Shifted to Centre, Shivraj Singh Chouhan remains go-to ‘Mama’ for people in need in MP