New Delhi: Home Minister Amit Shah is likely to remain the BJP president at least until the Delhi assembly elections early next year, ThePrint has learnt.
The party had elevated senior leader J.P. Nadda as its working president in June and Shah had announced that Nadda would take over from him by the last week of December or early January.
Sources, however, told ThePrint that impending organisational elections, which would pave the way for Nadda to take over, and an “inauspicious period” have delayed the change of guard.
The sources said Shah will pass on the baton most likely after the Delhi assembly elections.
“The elections for state presidents and executive members have not been completed,” a party functionary told ThePrint. “As per the BJP’s Constitution, 50 per cent of the electoral college should be appointed for the election of national president. The party general secretary has been assigned to expedite elections of state president.”
Shah’s second term ended in January. He first took over as party president in 2014. The BJP’s Constitution allows only two three-year terms for a party president.
In January, however, the BJP parliamentary board had deferred organisational polls until the Lok Sabha elections. In October, Shah said he didn’t want to continue in both roles — home minister and BJP president.
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Inauspicious period delaying Nadda elevation
Another source said the real reason is the “inauspicious period that will only end with Makar Sankranti”, which falls around mid-January, coupled with the Delhi elections.
“The party does not want to initiate a change in this inauspicious period,” the source said, adding that the Delhi election preparations could begin around mid-January and further delay the process.
“In mid-January, the groundwork for the Delhi elections will begin and it will not be logical to conduct a national BJP election to elect the president,” the party functionary said.
“For Nadda to be elected and ratified, a BJP national council meeting has to be called. It will be impractical to conduct such an exercise at the time of assembly elections.”
On if there was more to the delay in Nadda’s elevation, a senior BJP leader said, “One thing is clear in the Modi-Shah regime — if they have decided on something there is little chance of them changing their decision. There will only be change if they are convinced that a decision will not work.”
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Nadda’s performance as working president
Since Nadda’s appointment as working president in June, the BJP has faced three assembly elections — Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand.
While the Jharkhand results are out on 23 December, the BJP had a below par performance in Haryana and lost out on power in Maharashtra after ally Shiv Sena jumped ship and formed the government with the Congress and the Sharad Pawar-led NCP.
One party functionary, though, said that Nadda won’t come under the scanner for these election results as Shah is still in command.
“This is the biggest advantage for Nadda as the credit for winning and blame for losing will fall on Amit Shah,” the functionary said. “But, after a point, he will have to accept his share of the blame.”
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Nadda is just name sake and a Puppet at the hands of Modi and Shah who in turn are Puppets of RSS. It is actually Bharatiya Puppet Party and Janata is simply getting hoodwinked 😊