Rajnath meets RSS to pick next party chief

Since the last couple of days, names of Modi’s close aid Amit Shah, party’s general secretary JP Nadda and Om Mathur’s are emerging as strong contenders for the post of party president. Mathur was in-charge of the last Gujarat Assembly elections.

In the morning Rajnath met the PM and later went to meet RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and its leader Suresh Soni. He reportedly went with a list of probable names of party chief and officer bearers.

It was learnt that Rajnath personally wants Nadda to become the party chief. However, Mathur and Shah being close to Modi are also coming out as a front runner for the post. However, Nadda’s differences with the local party leaders in Himachal Pradesh might create hurdles before him in securing the ‘prestigious post’.

On the context of Shah, party leaders feels that his previous cases on ‘fake encounters’ might go against him but also put him in a advantageous positions after he manages a clear sweep in Uttar Pradesh, with his good leadership quality.

Rajnath also conveys the RSS leaders about Modi’s soon to be announced cabinet expansion following ‘controversy’ over poor attendance of leaders from Rajasthan, Himachal and Uttarakhand — known as BJP bastions — in the cabinet.

Out of 25 Lok Sabha MPs from Rajasthan, only Nihal Chand, a four-time MP from Ganganagar, was inducted as a minister of state (MoS). Even chief minister Vasundhara Raje’s son Dushyant Singh was not included in the cabinet. From Himachal and Uttarakhand, no one was given a cabinet post.

The party headquarters is going to see many changes in the organizational set up with party general secretaries Ananth Kumar, Dharmendra Pradhan and Thawar Chand Gehlot were rewarded with ministries.