Haryana Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is set to get its new chief soon, with Union Minister and Member of Parliament from Faridabad Constituency Krishan Pal Gurjar emerging as the key contender for the post. According to party sources, the race has narrowed down to Gurjar and former Agriculture Minister Om Prakash Dhankar.
Gurjar, is currently the Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of Indian.
Gurjar had previously served as the Haryana BJP chief from 2009 to 2013 and played a key role in strengthening the saffron party to contest the 2014 assembly polls independently.The term of current president and former MLA Subhash Barala has already ended and the party is expected to announce its next chief of Haryana soon.
According to the BJP sources, Gurjar appears to be the party's choice for the next state unit chief, though names of other senior leaders and former Haryana ministers OP Dhankar and Capt Abhimanyu were also considered for the post.
If Gurjar is chosen, it remains to be seen if he continues at the Centre, though there is such a precedent from Punjab. Gurjar’s colleague Vijay Sampla held both positions simultaneously though “one man, one post” was the accepted norm in the BJP.
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had recently met BJP National President J P Nadda and discussed the issue of the appointment of new state unit chief.
Jat and non-Jat angle had been deliberated, as also the need to zero in on a consensus candidate who could take everyone along. Besides Capt Abhimanyu and Dhankar, Panipat (rural) MLA Mahipal Dhanda was also being considered for the post as a face from the Jat community, the sources said.
Barala is considered close to Khattar and took the state chief post in December 2014 after the then Haryana BJP head Ram Bilas Sharma became State Cabinet Minister. In 2014, BJP had for first time formed a government on its own strength in Haryana after winning 47 of the 90 seats.