A clarity is expected to emerge on the successor of Rajnath Singh as BJP president “in next seven to eight days”.
Sources in the BJP, which has shortlisted names of national general secretaries Amit Shah, JP Nadda, and Rajya Sabha member and former Rajasthan unit president Om Mathur for the post of the party president, however, said “No decision has been taken on the issue.”
A two-day confabulation of organising secretaries of the BJP is currently underway here taking up organisational plans and programmes.
A series of meetings earlier this month deliberated the issue of selecting the new chief of the party with the incumbent president (now also Union Home Minster) interacting with RSS head Mohan Bhagwat and RSS pointsman for the BJP Suresh Soni. Subsequent to the talks, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was briefed on the issue.
Asked who is the frontrunner for the key post, sources said though three names — Shah, Nadda and Mathur — have figured in the deliberations , “a clarity (consensus) is yet to emerge” on the issue. “The picture would be far more clear in next seven to eight days,” they said.
If Shah is to pick the reins of the BJP, the head of the Government and the party would be from the same State (Gujarat) creating an apparent “regional imbalance”, according to some quarters. RSS is expected to extend its helping hand to narrow down differing views and fix the issue, sources said.
Shah, 50, a close aide of Modi, has been publicly appreciated by Modi for BJP’s commanding success in 71 lok Sabha seats from UP out of 80 in comparison to only 10 seats in 2009 lok Sabha polls. The highest ever tally for the BJP in UP thus far has been 1998 when it had won 58 lok Sabha seats.
Shah’s name was also doing the rounds for the Vadodara lok Sabha seat, vacated by Modi, last, month, but there was no final word on whether he would contest the by-election. According to one section in the party, Shah may prefer to stay back in the organisation and be an all important link between the Modi-Government and the party.
Jagat Prakash Nadda, 53, is currently the member of Rajya Sabha from Himachal Pradesh. He was inducted as general secretary by former party president Nitin Gadkari who is now the Minister for Road, Transport and Highways in the Modi-Govenrment.
Mathur, 62, a former Rajasthan unit BJP president is the seniormost of the two other contenders. The BJP has bagged all 25 lok Sabha seats in his home State.
like Shah, Mathur is another confidant of Modi with whom he has closely worked as party’s in-charge of Gujarat in the last two Assembly elections and ensured smooth victory for the party. Mathur was elected to the Rajya Sabha in April 2008.
A decision on the new full-time BJP president is to be taken at the earliest as Maharashtra, Haryana and Delhi are expected to go to polls this year and the party needs to be in battle gear afresh.