Announcement on next Rajasthan BJP president likely this week

JAIPUR: The much-awaited announcement on the next BJP president in the state is expected this week, following a meeting of national president Amit Shah with the members of state party’s core committee.


The meeting was called by Shah and held at the national BJP headquarters in New Delhi on Wednesday evening. During the meeting, apart from the discussion of the probable state president, discussions over the soon-to-be-launched election campaign in the state were also held.

``An aggressive election campaign will be launched in the state soon. It was decided in the meeting that CM Vasundhara Raje, who will lead us in the elections, will take out a rally focusing on development. Details of the rally will soon be finalised and work for the elections distributed,’’ said senior cabinet minister Rajendra Rathore, while talking to the media, after the meeting.

Raje too was party of the meeting. No consensus over the name of the new party president could be attained during the meeting, though, the announcement on the same is expected by Friday.

This is for the first time in the history of state BJP that the organisation is functioning with a head for close to two months now. Senior party member and MLA Ashok Parnami had resigned from the post on April 16. Conventionally and in all the previous occasions, the successor to the outgoing president was announced within the next 24 hours.

However, the announcement has been delayed because of differences over Raje and Shah over the next president. Soon after Parnami’s resignation, reports about Jodhpur MP and union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat to be his successor started doing rounds.

Upset with the party high command’s choice, Raje opposed Shekhawat’s nomination strongly with her supporters from the Rajasthan cabinet also marching to Delhi to explain to the high command why Shekhawat – a

Rajput

– was not a good choice. Hampering about how Shekhawat’s nomination would hamper the caste-politics in the state and might lead to BJP losing the support of Jats.

Raje’s defiance is believed to be based on the fear that Shekhawat, if made the state president, might turn her competitor. The party high command, on the other hand, firmly believes that Shekhawat would not only balance the caste-politics in the state but also get a strong RSS-support in the state, which is much needed.

On Wednesday, names of Bikaner and union minister MP Arjun Ram Meghwal along with

Rajya Sabha

MP from Rajasthan Bhupendra Yadav’s names were also doing rounds. However, sources within the party confirmed that Shekhawat continues to be the first choice of the party high command.

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