PATNA: The search for a new Bihar BJP president has begun after the induction of incumbent Dilip Kumar Jaiswal into the Nitish Kumar cabinet as a minister.
Jaiswal, a member of the legislative council, will have to step down as party chief under the ‘one person, one post’ policy.
Sources within the BJP said senior leaders have already begun discussions on a new state president after Jaiswal was made a minister from the BJP quota.
A senior leader, who camped in Bihar throughout the election, has been reportedly tasked to select the names of probable candidates for the post.
Three names will be selected and sent to the central leadership, a senior BJP leader said.
Janak Ram, a former minister, is among the Dalit leaders whose name is doing the rounds for the state president’s post. Ram, a turncoat, is now a prominent Dalit face of BJP in Bihar.
Before joining BJP in 2013, he was associated with Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
Ram also served as a minister in the previous NDA government and also served as an MP from Gopalganj. He might be considered for the state president’s post as Dalits constitute nearly 20 per cent of the state’s population.
Sanjiv Chaurasia is another leader who may be considered for the post. He comes from Extremely Backward Classes (EBC), which constitute nearly 36 per cent of the state’s population.
Son of former governor of Sikkim Ganga Prasad, Chaurasia has won election from Digha for the third time and had been associated with Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) from the very beginning.
He was also made state president and national general secretary of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha and also served as state vice president and general secretary of BJP.
Mithilesh Tiwari, who unsuccessfully contested the 2019 Lok Sabha election from Buxar, is also a strong contender for the state president’s post among the Upper Caste leaders.
He has vast experience of working with the organisation in different capacities and enjoyed the support of RSS.
Nitish Mishra, former minister and MLA from Jhanjharpur, and Vivek Thakur, MP from Nawada, are among the other front runners for the post among Upper Caste leaders.
Mishra’s tenure as industries minister in the previous NDA government was remarkable. Vivek Thakur is the son of veteran BJP leader Dr. C. P. Thakur, a former union minister. The new state president is likely to be appointed in the new year. Meanwhile, leaders are actively manoeuvring through the political corridors, each eyeing the coveted position.