Deadlock over the position of Rajasthan BJP president continues since Ashok Parnami resigned on 18 April.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to step in to resolve the impasse over the appointment of the BJP’s new state president in poll-bound Rajasthan.
A disagreement between BJP national president Amit Shah and Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje is seen to be causing a delay in appointing a new party president after Ashok Parnami resigned on 18 April.
The BJP state president of another poll-bound state — Madhya Pradesh — had also stepped down, but his replacement was promptly appointed.
However, the same appointment process in Rajasthan that also votes later this year, remains in limbo.
While Raje was earlier pushing for Shrichand Kriplani, sources said she is now keen on senior state leader Laxminarayan Dave. Shah, meanwhile, is pushing for Jodhpur MP and minister of state for agriculture Gajendra Shekhawat as well as central MoS Arjun Ram Meghwal.
While Raje and Shah met Saturday, the talks failed to break the deadlock.
BJP sources said it is PM Modi who will now intervene to resolve the stalemate and make the final decision on who should be appointed party president in Rajasthan.
The friction between Shah and Raje has been on for quite some time. The sources said it was Shah who insisted Parnami resigns — being perceived as a way to undermine Raje — even though she was backing him. After the BJP was decimated in the Ajmer and Alwar Lok Sabha seat bypolls earlier this year, and with her rising unpopularity, Raje’s position in the party has been weakened, party sources say.
Raje has been strongly resisting both Shekhawat, close to the party’s central leadership, and Meghwal’s names. Many in the Rajasthan unit feel if Shekhawat — a Rajput — is appointed, the crucial Jat community may feel alienated, given the history of rivalry between the two communities.
Kriplani, meanwhile, belongs to the Sindhi Punjabi community, as does Parnami. Further, Shekhawat is seen as being relatively less experienced given he is just a first-time MP.
Meanwhile, the term of Rajasthan chief secretary Nihal Chand Goel was not extended, despite Raje’s demand, and instead, Devendra Bushan Gupta was appointed, yet another indication of the tension between the CM and the party’s central leadership.