NEW DELHI: The ruling BJP on Wednesday kick started the formal process for electing the new chief of the party with incumbent Amit Shah most likely to get re-elected.
The nomination for the party president is scheduled on January 24 followed by scrutiny and election, if necessary, the next day, Returning Officer and BJP MP from Punjab Avinash Rai Khanna on Wednesday announced.
After the Bihar debacle, questions were being raised in the party over the leadership failure with Shah chances for second term under minute scanner.
With more than half of the state party units completing their election processes, the poll process for the new national president got underway.
The humiliating defeat in Bihar election has certainly dented Shah’s chance for getting free hand in putting his men of choice in place in state units.
In Madhya Pradesh, Nandkumar Singh Chauhan managed to got a second term while in Rajasthan Ashok Parnami was re-elected, who is said to be Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje’s loyalist.
Chhattisgarh unit chief Dharamlal Kaushik was also re-elected. As for Kerala and West Bengal, which go to polls later this year, the RSS influence was evident. In Kerala, the party has appointed RSS activist Kummanam Rajashekharan and in West Bengal, Dilip Ghosh, another RSS guard, was elevated.