BJP appoints six state unit chief; West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh soon

THe Bharatiya Janata company (BJP) on tues prescribed chiefs for local units in 6 states and unification territories, and set the ball rolling for a similar process in two other states such as West Bengal, adding to speculation that the election for the national party chief was on the anvil.As the appointment of new party chiefs has been completed in 22 states, all eyes are now on whether the BJP will appoint new heads in three key states –– Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Gujarat –– before it finalises the name for the national president. Under the party constitution, the national president can be elected after elections are held in 50% of the states. India has 28 states and seven Union Territories.On Tuesday, the party announced the appointment of Anil Tiwari as the new BJP state chief in Andaman and Nicobar; Ravindra Chavan in Maharashtra; PVN Madhav in Andhra Pradesh; N Ramchander Rao in Telangana; Mahendra Bhatt in Uttarakhand, and Rajeev Bindal in Himachal Pradesh.In Madhya, Pradesh Hemant Khandelwal filed the nomination for the post of state unit president, which is currently held by VD Sharma. In Bengal, the party announced that the election will be on Thursday. Incumbent Bengal unit chief Sukanta Majumdar is the front runner to retain his post.According to a party functionary, by the end of the week, new state unit heads will be in place in 24 states.“As on date the requirement of appointing new chiefs in 50% of the total states prior to the election of the national president has been met…the next step is for the election in-charge K Laxman to announce the schedule for the election of the national president,” said a party functionary .Responding to a question on whether the party will pick new presidents for the three big states before it begins the process of selecting incumbent president JP Nadda’s successor, the functionary said, “The process of seeking feedback from the cadre in all the three states is more or less over. There are a few districts where appointments have been stalled, but the delay in announcement is not owing to any major discord.”In Karnataka, there was a division in the party on giving the incumbent BY Vijayendra a second term. A section of leaders wanted the 49-year old Vijayendra to continue while a second group cited the party’s stance of not promoting dynastic politics to push for a new name. Vijayendra’s father is the former CM, BS Yediyurappa.In Uttar Pradesh, too, the process has been mired in controversy as there are various caste groups pushing for their candidate. “A section of leaders feel that the representative should be an OBC or SC in keeping with the leadership’s push to social engineering and giving the marginalised sections more representation.The process was also delayed because of the Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj,” said a state leader. The incumbent president, Bhupendra Chaudhary, comes from the backward castes.In Gujarat, where Union minister CR Paatil is the state president, the party is divided over whether to pick a Patel or a tribesperson for the top slot. While the Patels are a hefty vote bank that the BJP relies on, the party is equally keen to keep the scheduled tribes close as they make up about 14.8% of the population.