MP: Will Tribal Leader Kulaste, Dropped from Union Ministry, Be Next MP BJP Chief?
Bhopal: Former Union minister and eight-time MP Faggan Singh Kulaste who has been dropped from the new NDA ministry at the Centre is speculated to be made next chief of Madhya Pradesh unit of BJP.
The incumbent party chief in the state Vishnu Dutt Sharma may give way for Mr Kulaste in the post, a senior party functionary told this newspaper on Monday.
Mr Kulaste was a minister in the previous two Narendra Modi governments. He was dropped from the new Central ministry that was sworn in on Sunday.
Sources said that the party high command may have a plan to appoint a tribal leader to head state BJP to consolidate its base among the tribals in the state and Mr Kulaste may fit into the BJP Central leadership’s scheme of things, the BJP leader said.
Sixty five-year-old Mr Kulaste had also served in the party in various capacities earlier and was earlier keen to hold organisational post, the BJP leader said, unwilling to be quoted.
Mr Kulaste was elected to Lok Sabha from Dhar in Madhya Pradesh in the 2024 general elections.
“Mr Kulaste is the tribal face of BJP in the tribal-dominated Mahakoshal region of Madhya Pradesh. Hence, the party may be considering creating a narrative of being pro-tribal by appointing him as state BJP president”, another senior BJP functionary said.
Sources said that Mr Sharma whose tenure as state BJP chief of Madhya Pradesh saw tremendous success for the party in the November 2023 Assembly elections and 2024 LS polls in Madhya Pradesh is speculated to be given an important responsibility in the party at the national level.
Mr Sharma’s followers were expecting him to make it to the Union ministry this time.
But, he was not inducted in the Union ministry and hence, the party may have a plan to give him an important position in the party at the national level, sources said.
BJP had secured 163 out of 230 seats in the November 2023 Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh and won all the 29 LS seats in the state in the LS polls.
