Who will be the next state president of the BJP IJ This question has foxed the rank and file of the cadres who have been waiting for a replacement as the tenure of present chief Dr laxmi Kant Bajpai has expired in November.
“The indecisiveness of the party leadership will affect the BJP. New programmes have been announced for the cadres but the zing is missing because the district chiefs and other office-bearers are unsure about their future. So, no body is taking any responsibility,” rued a senior leader in lucknow on Thursday.
It was expected that party would announce new state chief immediately after the Bihar polls. Names had started floating keeping in mind the caste and regional balance. As Dr Bajpai belonged to western UP, party workers guessed that the new chief would be from eastern parts of the state.
Minister of State for Railways and MP from Ghazipur, Manoj Sinha’s name cropped up in the churning. The names of lucknow Mayor Dinesh Sharma, legislator Dharampal Singh, Union minister of state for Civil Aviation and Tourism, Mahesh Sharma and even Swtantradeo Singh also did the rounds.
Even after the Bihar polls, the leadership failed to decide the issue. “Confusion prevailed as to who would be an acceptable state president, had the mass appeal and could lead the party into the 2017 Assembly elections. But the party brass possibly did not have the right answers to these pointed and vital questions,” said the BJP leader.
Spurces however indicate that Manoj Sinha and Dr Dinesh Sharma were the front runners at this point. A stong lobby from eastern UP is lobbying for Sinha while Sharma is in the good books of party president Amit Shah and enjoys the 'much-needed' connection as his wife is from Gujarat.
“The district units are rudderless now. The party has announced celebrations from April 14 to 16, but directives have not reached district units as Dr laxmi Kant Bajpai is not pressing for it. On Wednesday, the party celebrated the Foundation Fay but the impact of the function was negligible,” the leader said.
The veteran opined that until the state unit had a full fledged president, the party would fail to work as a well-oiled machine and expected that the new chief could be announced after the West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Assam polls.