BHOPAL: State president of the BJP, Rakesh Singh, is all set to play his second innings in the same capacity.
The party has unanimously agreed to elect Singh as its state head, and the BJP may soon issue a notice for starting the election process for its state head.
The election may be held any day after January 15. Singh has the support of the party’s national president Amit Shah and that of the RSS.
A few days before the assembly elections, former state party president Nand Kumar Singh Chouhan had been removed and Singh took over as state party head.
Singh has completed only one and half years of his three years’ tenure so his getting another chance is almost decided.
After the BJP’s defeat in the assembly election, the party has won 28 of the 29 seats in the Lok Sabha elections in the state.
Nevertheless, many leaders in the state BJP unit are opposed to Singh’s getting another chance as state party head. Besides former Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, party’s national secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya and a few others are against Singh.
As Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar is not opposed to Singh, he is not backing any other candidate vying for the post.
Singh and Chouhan held a meeting in Delhi a few days ago, and both of them met Vijayvargiya at the party office in Bhopal on Friday.
The others vying for the coveted post are former minister Lal Singh Arya, Bhupendra Singh, Vishwash Sarang, party’s state president Arvind Bhadauria and national vice-president of the party Prabhat Jha.
Since the state election will be held after four years, the party’s central leadership is not keen on making major changes in the state unit. Accordingly, Singh has been given the second chance.