Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The process for organisational polls in the BJP is afoot. The party will soon elect its state unit president, and several leaders have begun to make efforts to get the position. Many legislators are also in the race and working hard to get the job.
According to sources in the party, the chances of legislators becoming the state party president are thin. Instead of a legislator, an MP or any other leader may be given a chance to lead the state BJP, sources said.
Among the legislators, the names of Rameshwar Sharma, Hemant Khandelwal and Bhupendra Singh are doing the rounds. Among the ministers, Rajendra Shukla and Vishvas Sarang are also in the race. According to sources, none of them is going to be elected as state president.
After Chhattisgarh was separated, an MP or any other leader has been elected as BJP’s MP unit president. Kailash Joshi, Satyanarayan Jatiya, Prabhat Jha, Nandkumar Singh Chouhan, Rakesh Singh and VD Sharma were the party’s state unit presidents. But none of them was elected during their tenure as legislator.
Only Narendra Singh Tomar was an exception. He became the state unit president when he was a legislator. After becoming the president, Tomar did not contest the assembly election in 2008. When he became the president for the second time in 2012, he was an MP.
Apart from the legislators, the other leader, whose chances of becoming the party’s state unit president are bright, is Arvind Bhadoria. According to sources, besides Bhadoria, Narottam Mishra, and MPs, Faggan Singh Kulaste, Gajendra Patel and Sumer Singh Solanki are trying to become the state president.
According to sources in the BJP, other than those whose names are being discussed for the post, the central leadership may appoint anyone as state party president.