Amit Shah may stay BJP chief till October polls

New Delhi: Union home minister and BJP president Amit Shah is likely to continue heading the party till the Assembly polls in three states — Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Haryana — are over later this year. Other than the three BJP-ruled states, elections in Jammu and Kashmir, which is under the President’s rule since December 2018, may also take place by the end of this year. Sources disclosed that both within the BJP and the RSS, there is a growing demand for Mr Shah to continue leading the party till the Assembly polls in these key states are over.

Though the BJP usually follows the “one man-one post” principle for its leaders, the view within the Sangh Parivar is that the current leadership should continue the party’s victory procession that has started with Lok Sabha elections. Even though former Union minister J.P. Nadda’s name is doing the rounds as the frontrunner for the top post in the BJP, the Sangh Parivar is not in favour disturbing the organisational order at this stage.

Known for his organisational skills, Mr Shah is also famous for his connect with the cadre.

Though the BJP has Shah may stay BJP chief till Oct. polls  initiated the process of organisational polls in its state units, which will finally culminate in the election of a new party president, the decision to pick a party president is usually selected “unanimously”.

On Sunday, Mr Shah held meetings with the party’s core group leaders from three Assembly poll-bound states. Party sources said Mr Shah held separate meetings with leaders from Mahara-shtra, Jharkhand and Haryana, all of which would go to polls around October-November this year.

Sources said the focus of the meetings was to assess the problems areas for the BJP during Assembly polls despite a good performance in the Lok Sabha polls.

 In Haryana, the BJP won all 11 LS seats, in Jharkhand the party won 11 of the total 14 seats and in Maharashtra the BJP-Shiv Sena combine won 41 of the 48 Lok Sabha seats, with the BJP winning 23 alone.

The BJP is in power in all the three states and their CMs also attended the exercise.

The BJP’s main rival in all three states is either the Congress, as in Haryana, or an Opposition alliance in which it has a major presence, as in Maharashtra and Jharkhand.

The saffron party decimated its rivals in these states in the recent Lok Sabha polls but Assembly elections will be fought on state-specific issues, with the performance of the respective state governments likely to be central planks

Mr Shah has also called a meeting of key organisation leaders from states and Union Territories on June 13 and 14.