Amit Shah starts fresh talks to pick Rajasthan unit chief

Jaipur: BJP president Amit Shah has called Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje and other senior state leaders to Delhi on Wednesday to select a new chief for the state, a crucialorganisational post that has remained vacant since April due to a bitter power struggle and alleged disagreement between Mr Shah and Ms Raje over an ideal candidate.

Ashok Parnami, a Raje loyalist, resigned as Rajasthan BJP chief on April 18 in the wake of the party’s stunning defeat in two Lok Sabha and one Assembly bypolls.

Apart from the chief minister, Union ministers Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Arjun Ram Meghwal, who are the top two preferences of Mr Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, have also been invited for the meeting.

Mr Shah earlier wanted to name Mr Shekhawat, an MP from Jodhpur, as the new state president but the move was opposed by Ms Raje. She had also red-flagged the appointment of Mr Meghwal.

Instead, Ms Raje floated names of her own loyalists, including her urban development and housing minister Srichand Kriplani and social justice and empowerment minister Arun Chaturvedi. Both names where rejected by the party’s national leadership. 

“The chief minister doesn’t want another power centre in the party and challenger to her position. Mr Shekhawat is popular among party cadre as he has risen from being ordinary worker to become a Union minister. Apart from being the favourite of Mr Shah and the PM, he also enjoys the backing of the Sangh,” said a party functionary who did not wish to be named.

The discussions on a new Rajasthan state chief on Wedensday come ahead of a two-day meeting in Delhi from June 15 where RSS men deputed in the BJP as organisational secretaries will to discuss issues related to poll-bound states and devise a strategy to counter the growing perception of a dip in BJP’s popularity after the recent setbacks in bypolls, including those in Rajasthan. Mr Shah will also address the meeting on the concluding day.

During his hunt for a new Rajasthan unit chief, Mr Shah had held a meeting last week with party national vice president Om Prakash Mathur, who hails from Rajasthan. The meeting on Wednesday will also be attended by Union minister and Jat leader from Nagaur C.R. Choudhary, senior party leaders and members of state core committee Om Prakash Mathur, Bhupendra Yadav, state home minister Gulab Chand Kataria, panchayati raj minister Rajendra Singh Rathore, transport minister Yunus Khan and social justice and empowerment minister Arun Chaturvedi.

BJP’s organisational general secretary Ramlal, national vice president and state in charge of Rajasthan Avinash Rai Khanna and joint secretary V. Satish would also be present.

BJP sources said the organisational secretaries’ two-day meeting starting June 15 will be addressed by Mr Ramlal. The meeting will review tasks given to different wings of the party as part of the outreach programmes, discuss coordination issues between the government, organisation and the various RSS affiliates’.

It will also review the party’s poll preparedness and hold discussion on the feedback received on the impact of the Modi government’s welfare schemes.