Sunil Gatade | Will Yet Another Lightweight Take Over as the BJP’s Next President?
Reports claim that the RSS has come to the “rescue” of the BJP leadership in the election of the national president. Historically, BJP presidents have been elected by consensus since its inception on April 6, 1980.
The stage is set for the election of the president of the world’s largest party to conclude the long-delayed exercise that has hardly done any good to the BJP, which once boasted of being a party with a difference.
While no official announcement has been made so far, the election of 20-odd state party chiefs paves the way to choose the successor to incumbent J.P. Nadda, which will be held sooner rather than later.
Only time will tell whether the next BJP president will be a real leader, or a compromise candidate amidst the growing talk of “all is not well” between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah on the one hand, and the RSS led by its supremo Mohan Bhagwat on the other.
There is speculation that Mr Amit Shah has made it known that Mr Nadda’s successor will be in place by July 21, when the Monsoon Session of Parliament starts.
At present, the names of Union ministers Bhupendra Yadav, Manohar Lal Khattar, Dharmendra Pradhan and Pralhad Joshi are doing the rounds for the national party president, all of whom are known to be close to the top BJP leadership.
The latest speculation is that the leader who will replace Mr Nadda as party chief could be a woman. The names of finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, former Andhra Pradesh party chief D. Purandreswari and Vanathi Srinivasan from Tamil Nadu are in circulation.
If the speculation on the names is to be believed, a lightweight leader could again preside over the party. Mr Nadda is not known to be a heavyweight.
The BJP does not speak much about its internal issues since the advent of Narendra Modi. Most news about the BJP nowadays is usually attributed to “sources”.
Eyebrows will be raised if a “dark horse” finally does emerge. This seems unlikely at this juncture. The successor to Mr Nadda is expected to be the result of a consensus reached between the BJP’s top brass and the RSS. The Prime Minister, projected as the strongest leader India has produced, has not been able to finalise a successor to Mr Nadda over the past 13 months, which tells its own story.
Reports claim that the RSS has come to the “rescue” of the BJP leadership in the election of the national president. Historically, BJP presidents have been elected by consensus since its inception on April 6, 1980.
Already there have been reports that some sort of consensus between the BJP top brass and the RSS leadership ensured the smooth election of several state BJP chiefs, including in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Some of those appointed have been associated with the RSS for a long time.
Since Mr Modi became Prime Minister in May 2014, the BJP chiefs have been known to be close to either him or Mr Shah, his nuts-and-bolts man.
Rajnath Singh was made the party chief even before the May 2014 Lok Sabha polls, as incumbent Nitin Gadkari was not found amenable to the powers that be. Mr Gadkari, who hails from Nagpur, was the choice of the RSS. Mr Shah succeeded Rajnath Singh, and Mr Nadda took the place of Mr Shah later. “Ab ki baar Modi Sarkar” was the slogan when Rajnath Singh was the party chief.
The top body of the RSS recently met in the national capital to discuss a range of issues. It is said that the deliberations had a bearing on the election of the next BJP chief too.
The BJP, which has always proclaimed itself as a party with a difference, had so far generally held internal elections on time.
Mr Nadda, also a Central minister, might have the distinction of serving the longest-ever single term as BJP president since the party’s inception in 1980 in the wake of the break-up of the Janata Party. It also indicated the problems within.
Mr Nadda’s term expired in January last year, which the party had extended till the end of the Lok Sabha polls. It was further extended until the completion of the party’s internal elections. The BJP’s constitution mandates that the party should complete the process of electing block, district, and state chiefs before it elects its national president.
All eyes are on Uttar Pradesh, where there have been several claimants for the state presidentship ahead of the Assembly elections due in 2027. The latest talk is that the election of the state party chief could be held after that of the national president and could even involve a reshuffle of the Yogi Adityanath Cabinet.
Yogi Adityanath would like to have his way in the election given the importance of the state BJP chief’s role during the Assembly polls.
In a significant development in West Bengal, the party brought in Sameek Bhattacharya as the new party chief to revitalise it ahead of the Assembly polls next year. Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamul Congress has created a hat-trick of remaining in power. Mr Bhattacharya has strong RSS ties and a history of impactful leadership.
In Andhra Pradesh, senior BJP leader P.V.N. Madhav succeeded D. Purandeswari. In Hyderabad, N. Ramchander Rao, an ABVP veteran, was elected as the new president in Telangana, succeeding Union minister G. Kishan Reddy. This prompted controversial MLA T. Raja Singh to quit the party.
Elsewhere, there was not much controversy despite some names hardly being talked about for the leadership role.
In Maharashtra, former minister Ravindra Chavan is tipped to be the new state chief. He is a close associate of chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.
In Shimla, five-term former legislator Rajiv Bindal was re-elected unopposed as the party’s Himachal Pradesh unit chief.
The churn over the election of the national president shows that whoever will be Mr Nadda’s successor will be more than a “yes man” of the leadership, as the RSS too would be watching him.
The writer is a journalist based in New Delhi