NEW DELHI: BJP president Amit Shah appears to have put his stamp on the party organisation in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, both poll-bound, clipping the wings of chief ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Vasundhara Raje in the process.The party chiefs in both the states – Nand Kumar Chouhan in Madhya Pradesh and Ashok Parnami in Rajasthan, considered close to their respective CMs – have resigned, enabling Shah to appoint his handpicked persons to helm the party in these two states.
While Jabalpur Lok Sabha MP Rakesh Singh has been appointed the new party chief in Madhya Pradesh, Shah is expected to announce a replacement for Parnami soon. The outgoing chiefs paid for the series of bypoll debacles, party sources said. The change of guard in Madhya Pradesh is also being seen in party circles as a clear message to Shivraj Singh Chouhan that even if the BJP were to return to power later this year, he would not be the automatic choice as CM. Party sources said Union Minister of Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Mines Narendra Singh Tomar was increasingly being propped up as a possible successor.
A lot of politicking went into the appointment of Rakesh Singh, who is also the chief whip in the Lok Sabha, as the Madhya Pradesh BJP chief. Shah wanted to appoint Narottam Mishra, a Minister in the State, as the chief. “But the chief minister refused to agree. As a compromise, he had to agree on Rakesh Singh, a loyalist of Tomar, who is increasingly becoming a political rival to the incumbent chief minister,” sources said.
Incidentally, Tomar will be the campaign committee chairman in Madhya Pradesh, while leading a team of co-ordinators – Lal Singh Arya (Dalit), Narottam Mishra (Brahmin) and Faggan Kulaste (Tribal). “It’s evident that the near complete control over the state unit of the BJP enjoyed by Shivraj Singh Chouhan has ceased to exist,” sources added. Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan along with Chhattisgarh are heading to Assembly elections around November this year.
In Rajasthan, Raje is increasingly seen becoming vulnerable on the back of BJP’s losses in the Ajmer and Alwar Lok Sabha by-elections. The BJP chief is likely to appoint Parnami’s replacement soon, with the names of Union Minister Arjun Meghwal (Dalit) and Lok Sabha MP Om Birla in the reckoning. Shah’s close confidante and the BJP national general secretary Om Mathur has long been seen as a political rival of Raje. Within the BJP, MP and Rajasthan are being counted as states ripe with anti-incumbency, adding to the BJP’s woes.