2024-08-13 16:28:50
New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wants a new president. The extended term of Jagat Prakash Nadda has also ended. A five-hour long meeting was held at the residence of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in Delhi to discuss the names of the new president. Apart from Rajnath Singh, the current president JP Nadda, BJP’s organisational general secretary BL Santosh, and from Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), second-ranked general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale and joint general secretary Arun Kumar took part in this meeting. RSS is the parent organisation of BJP.
Tension of Rahul-Akhilesh factor?
This year, there are elections in four important states, then next year will be the turn of major states like Delhi and Bihar. Along with these opportunities, the challenges that emerged in the recent Lok Sabha elections will also become the criteria for the election of the new president. In the Lok Sabha elections, states like Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra have given a big blow to the BJP. There, a good number of voters, especially from the backward and Dalit classes, turned their back on the BJP and turned to its opponents. In Uttar Pradesh, the Congress and the Samajwadi Party (SP) together gave a big blow to the BJP. The pair of Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav alone kept the BJP away from the majority in Uttar Pradesh. Therefore, there is a strong possibility that while choosing the new president of the BJP, the Rahul-Akhilesh factor will be seriously considered and their community will be given priority to bring back the scattered OBC voters. However, speculations are also being made that this time the BJP will create a record by making a woman the president.
When will the new president be elected?
If we talk about the time frame for the election of the new BJP president, then the RSS coordination meeting will be held in Palakkad, Kerala from 31 August to 2 September. So will the new BJP president be elected before 31 August? Actually, there is also a speculation that since the elections of the state organizations of BJP are also going to be held. Therefore, it is possible that the organization elections will be completed in at least half the states, then the national president will be selected. Till then, an executive president may be appointed who will later be given the post of full president.
These names are being discussed but…
The question of when will be solved, but the biggest question is who? All the big names that were being discussed at one time have been included in the Union Cabinet. Names like Shivraj Singh Chauhan and Manohar Lal Khattar are included in these. BJP and RSS want that the responsibility of national president should be given to a leader who has a strong hold on the ground. In such a situation, Shivraj Singh Chauhan can be a good choice, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given him the very important responsibility of Agriculture Minister. However, it is also true that whether it is JP Nadda or Rajnath Singh, both were Union Ministers when they were given the responsibility of BJP President.
Will a Brahmin take the place of a Brahmin?
It is being said that the name of Maharashtra’s Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is being seriously considered and he is currently the front runner for the post of BJP President. In a program of a private TV channel, three veteran journalists admitted that Devendra Fadnavis could be the new savior of BJP, but they also said that it is difficult to guess anything about today’s BJP. Especially, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said many times that it is not necessary that the person whose name is mentioned in the media should be selected. In fact, if we look at the track record of Modi-Shah’s BJP, it often happens that the person whose name is mentioned in the media is eliminated. But the equations are in Fadnavis’s favor. He is very close to the RSS and Narendra Modi. Since JP Nadda is a Brahmin, the representation of Brahmins can be maintained by giving Devendra Fadnavis his place. After all, in a big state like Uttar Pradesh, the population of Brahmins is around 12% and there has also been talk of Brahmin voters getting scattered in many Lok Sabha constituencies.
So will BJP not try to convince OBC voters? The answer is – of course, but as far as giving posts is concerned, Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself is an OBC. OBC faces have been given a lot of space in the cabinet of his third government. Since the post of president is already not with an OBC, there is no danger of sending a message that the post was taken away from an OBC and given to a Brahmin or someone else. But, BJP is moving forward on another idea. 33% women reservation will be implemented in the 2029 Lok Sabha elections. So BJP would like to take another step forward on the agenda of women empowerment by making a woman president. Anyway, there has been no woman BJP president till date. In this way, a record will also be created.
This time RSS has the upper hand
Amidst all these speculations, one truth is that this time RSS will probably have an upper hand. The weakness of the organization was the main reason behind BJP getting confined to 240 seats in the Lok Sabha elections, so this time RSS will not want any kind of laxity at the organizational level. Experts say that this does not mean at all that PM Modi’s choice will not be taken into consideration and the command of the organization will be handed over to a face who is not Modi’s favorite. That is, it is clear that whether the president is a man or a woman, OBC or Brahmin or anyone else, he/she will be close to both RSS and PM Modi.