The Bharatiya Janata Party’s central leadership is likely to retain Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje as Rajasthan party unit president at least until the Lok Sabha election, despite her resignation from the party post. The BJP has affirmed several times that it follows the “one person, one post” norm.
The leadership is pleased with Ms. Raje’s performance in the recent Assembly elections in which she led the BJP to a landslide — securing 163 of 200 seats.
BJP president Rajnath Singh praised Ms. Raje generously at the National Council meeting in New Delhi last month.
The view in the party, according to insiders, is that the appointment of a new State unit president at this stage may lead to factionalism, affecting the BJP’s prospects in the coming Lok Sabha elections. Retaining Ms. Raje in command of the party’s affairs would support the much-publicised “Mission-25” — aimed at winning all 25 Lok Sabha seats in Rajasthan.
The party in charge for Rajasthan, Kaptan Singh Solanki, has said no exercise has been initiated for identifying or appointing a new State unit president.
Ms. Raje was appointed BJP president last year, when she launched the “Suraaj Sankalp Yatra” and took up the responsibility of election management. She replaced Arun Chaturvedi, who then acted as vice-president and successfully contested the polls. He has since been appointed Minister in the Raje Cabinet.
After Ms. Raje sent in her resignation as the State president to Mr. Rajnath Singh last week, lobbying began for the coveted post. Prominent among the contenders are Rajya Sabha member Bhupendra Yadav, former Minister Digambar Singh and former State president Mahesh Sharma.
