New Delhi: Names of BJP vice-president JP Nadda (58) and general secretary Bhupinder Yadav (49) are in circulation to head the ruling party, but Home Minister Amit Shah appears in no mood to quit as the party president till the year-end.
Shah's 3-year term had already ended last January but it was extended in view of the Lok Sabha polls.
The party made no official comment on the new president and it is off in view of Shah launching the process for the organisational elections, in which the national president is elected by the national council members.
There was talk in the party that Shah may opt for a working president to lessen his work load, but the party seniors say he is capable of handling both responsibilities as the party president and home minister without any difficulty.
Both Nadda and Yadav are the Rajya Sabha members from Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan respectively and both are close to PM Modi as well as Shah, but they may have to wait for their turn until the party's organisational elections are completed.
Nadda, who was the health minister in the previous Modi government, was not included in the Cabinet triggering speculation that he will head the BJP that he lost in 2014 because of Modi's preference for Shah.
Neither Nadda nor Yadav were invited to meeting held by Shah with the core teams of Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand here on Sunday to discuss the upcoming Assembly elections in the three states. That further ruled out either of them becoming the party president.
A next major meeting has been convened by Shah as the BJP president on Thursday to discuss with the key party leaders and the state in-charges from the states and union territories about preparations of the organisational elections.
The meeting will draw up the schedule of the organisational elections that begins with the membership drive, followed by the elections from the booth-level bodies up to the states.The process for election of the national president starts after completion of elections in 80% of the states.
That will take place in November or December when the successor to Amit Shah will be finally chosen. He has to in any way since the BJP constitution allows only two consecutive terms to a BJP president.
