The Assembly elections dates in Rajasthan are soon to be announced but BJP has still not zeroed in on a final name for the post of State President. After several meetings and discussions with the high command and within the party, no name has been finalized. Rajasthan BJP President
Notably, former State BJP President Ashok Parnami had stepped down from his position on April 16 and since then the party is searching a potential candidate who can replace Parnami. Rajasthan BJP President
Although the entire party hasn’t been able to agree on a single name, several names have surfaced time and again, suggested by either CM Raje herself or others in the saffron party. Initially, BJP Chief Amit Shah and PM Modi were pushing for Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.
Shekhawat is backed by Rashtriya Sangh Seva and is said to be a man of sound logical capabilities. However, CM Raje and some other veteran leaders pointed out that Shekhawat, who is a Rajput, is a first time MLA and hence doesn’t hold enough experience. Moreover, a Rajput wouldn’t be able to garner support from other casts.
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Second name in the list is Arjun Meghwal, Union Minister of State in Ministry of Water Resources. He is backed by all the Jats and Dalits in the state, especially by those who were not in favour of Shekhawat. This is because the two communities i.e. the Jats and Rajputs have several differences and issues. Rajasthan BJP President
The State BJP is also favoring Dr Kirori Lal Meena to influence tribal voters as Rajasthan has 24 assembly seats with a majority of tribals. However, he could lack in influencing voters of other castes and hence is not an ideal choice for the majority of leaders in the party.
Talking about the choice of CM Raje, she had fully supported Parnami at the post but now that he has stepped down, another name submitted by Raje is Srichand Kriplani, the state Urban Development Minister who is a Sindhi. He is a two-time member of the Lok Sabha and a three-time MLA. Besides, being a Sindhi he is acceptable to members of all castes. Although it also depends on Kriplani himself; whether he wants to serve as the State President or not
Meanwhile, RSS Supremo Mohan Bhagwat has also been looking into the matter and is expected to bridge the differences in opinions and come up with a name that everyone agrees with.
Owing to the upcoming elections and the schedule, it’ quite important for the saffron party to decide the name of the state president soon because there are a lot of duties vested with the state party chief like handing over tickets to the candidates and in leading the party during election campaigns.
