New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah will remain the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president at least until the assembly elections in Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Haryana scheduled for later this year.
On Thursday, Shah held a meeting with state presidents, state in-charges and officer bearers on working out ways to strengthen the party further, launching a membership drive and holding elections for party posts at the state level.
According to party sources, the issue of the BJP president was also taken up in the meeting and it was felt that with assembly elections due in the three states, the current setup should not be changed.
Shah’s three-year tenure ended in January but he was given an extension because of the Lok Sabha elections. This is Shah’s second term as BJP chief, a post he took over after predecessor Rajnath Singh joined the Modi government as home minister in 2014.
Also read: BJP leader JP Nadda likely to replace Amit Shah as BJP president
Internal polls may also delay change
Party leaders maintained that only when the membership drive is complete will the party hold elections for the state, district and mandal units. According to the party’s constitution, organisational polls have to be completed in at least 50 per cent of the states for a new BJP chief to be elected.
“This exercise will run into months and before that a new president can’t be elected,” said a party source. “Also, assembly elections will be just around the corner, so it is unlikely that the current setup will be changed.”
BJP yet to reach its peak: Shah
It seems, even 303 seats is not enough for the BJP president as he told party functionaries that they need to reach out to even more people with government policies and schemes.
“The meeting started with BJP president addressing the party functionaries and he stressed on the fact that BJP’s victory is because of the hard work done by booth-level workers,” said a senior BJP leader.
“He also said that the party has still not reached its peak as there are many parts which are yet to be covered hinting at the east and south India,” the leader added.
“The president told the leaders that we have got more than 50 per cent mandate in 16 states but we need to do much more,” added another leader.
The party has also decided to launch a special membership drive that will be headed by former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan will head it.
“Right from the leader of the House, the protem speaker and now the in-charge of the membership drive has been given to leaders from Madhya Pradesh,” said another leader. “Chouhan is likely to come up with a timeline for the membership drive and will hold another meeting with the other members soon.”
Also read: In images, Amit Shah meets top BJP leaders in contention to replace him as party chief
How foolish of people to expect the king to abdicate the throne.
Socialist moron holidaying in capitalist London.
Then there will be elections in some other states next year, and so on.
I have another related confusion : who is the TREASURER of the BJP these days? Before 2014 elections, Piyush Goel was the treasurer. Then he was drawn into the central government Cabinet, so he had to vacate the party treasurer’s job. But who has had that responsibility since then? Is it that Amit Shah has also been the treasurer of the party since then?