After suffering a series of electoral setbacks in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan bypolls, the BJP on Wednesday undertook major organisational revamp in the two poll-bound States. The party appointed a new party president in Madhya Pradesh and is set to replace its Rajasthan chief also.
In Andhra Pradesh where the BJP is without an ally after the TDP walked out of the NDA, the party is going to focus on building a strong organisation under a new State president.
BJP president Amit Shah appointed Rakesh Singh, the party’s chief whip in the lok Sabha, as the head of its Madhya Pradesh unit. He replaced Nandkumar Singh Chauhan, who had held the post since August 2014.
A party statement said Ashok Parmani and K Hari Babu, both of whom have resigned as chief of Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh units respectively, besides Chauhan have been made members of its national executive.
Sources said the new heads of the party in Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh will be announced soon.
Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, who was in the race for the post of the party president in Madhya Pradesh, will be its campaign committee chief in the State, sources said.
Rakesh (55), a three-term MP representing Jabalpur in the lok Sabha, is a leader with vast organisational experience. According to sources in Bhopal, Rakesh’s name was finalised at the BJP’s State core group meeting in the State capital on Tuesday night. The meeting was also attended by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and BJP organisational secretary Ram lal.
Elections to the 230-member Madhya Pradesh Assembly will be held by the end of the year. The BJP is in power in the State for 15 years and Chouhan has led to convincing victories in the 2008 and 2013 Assembly polls.
In Andhra Pradesh, the BJP had been virtually lying low as it remained a junior partner to the TDP. The southern State will go to Assembly polls simultaneously with the lok Sabha elections next year. The BJP has only four MlAs and two MPs from the State, which elected 25 members for the lok Sabha.