THE BJP is in a quandary over successor of Shivraj Singh Chouhan on the post of State president. Soon after Chouhan took over as chief minister, it was expected that he would relinquish the State president’s post like Sushil Kumar Modi did in Bihar after being sworn in as deputy chief minister.
That did not happen. Then search began for a suitable candidate to effectively combat the Uma Bharti factor. Half-a-dozen names did the rounds. The first to go out of the reckoning was Faggan Singh Kulaste.
The Mandla MP got trapped in the MPLAD scam and lost his chance to become Chouhan’s successor , though he had many qualifications for the post: he is tribal, hails from Mahakoshal region and is also senior in the party. After Kulaste, three more contenders got eliminated from the race after they were inducted in the Rajnath Singh’s team.
Former Union minister Sumitra Mahajan became vice-president, Thavarchand Gehlot, general secretary and another former Union minister Satyanarayan Jatia has been given berth in Parliament as well as central election committees of the BJP. After that, two strong contenders — Jayant Malaiya and Narendra Singh Tomar — are left in the reckoning.
Both are ministers in the Chouhan Cabinet. But the problem is neither Malaiya nor Tomar is interested in sacrificing the comforts of ministership for the sake of organisational responsibility. This leaves State organisational secretary Kaptan Sigh Solanki as a strong candidate.
{{/usCountry}}Both are ministers in the Chouhan Cabinet. But the problem is neither Malaiya nor Tomar is interested in sacrificing the comforts of ministership for the sake of organisational responsibility. This leaves State organisational secretary Kaptan Sigh Solanki as a strong candidate.
{{/usCountry}}But Chouhan does not like Solanki’s elevation. The Chief Minister wants State president of his choice who would not pose any challenge to him. But, at the same time, the party has to take into account the caste, region and, above all, Uma factor in selecting the president. However, State BJP vice president Raghunandan Sharma has a different take. “The Bharatiya Janata Party never believed in casteism and regionalism. I believe the party should appoint such a person as State BJP president who could further its ideology and strengthen base.”
Party sources say the CM is sure to have a say in nomination of party president but what is puzzling the top leaders is the question who could get along well with the CM and at the same time strengthen the party to counter the challenges from Uma Bharti. A rubber stamp might suit the CM fine for coordination between the government and the organisation but the party could pay dearly in long run with such an arrangement as the Congress experienced.
The party leaders’ permutations and combinations coupled with limited options available with them has delayed nomination for the post. The State BJP organising general secretary Kaptan Singh Solanki had said that the new party president would be announced by the end of January.