BJP units in seven states headless

NEW DELHI: It has been three months since BJP chief Amit Shah got a fresh three-year term but he is yet to decide on heads of state units of at least seven states, including crucial ones like Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, which have assembly elections next year.

While it took two months after Shah's new term for the party to hold its first national executive in March, state units without new presidents are eagerly awaiting a decision.

Party sources said BJP units in UP, Bihar, Punjab, Delhi, Manipur, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh were getting restless, with "confusion prevailing on who has the command" in the state party. The buzz is that even if a few state party presidents are decided in April, most decisions will be finalised only after results of the present round of assembly polls are out on May 19.

With BJP already preparing for assembly polls in UP, minister of state for railways Manoj Sinha's name had surfaced as frontrunner to replace Laxmikant Bajpai, but even that has been doing the rounds for more than a month now. Others in the race were OBC leader Dharmpal Singh and state general secretary Swatantra Deo Singh. While Sinha belongs to the Bhumihar caste, Dharmpal Singh is a Lodh and Swatantra Deo Singh is a Kurmi.

Punjab too is awaiting a new state party chief to replace Kamal Sharma, since the state unit election was called off at the last moment in January. The BJP also has to reckon with the emergence of Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party which has declared that it will contest all seats in the state. Minister of state for social justice and empowerment Vijay Sampla, an MP from Hoshiarpur and a Dalit, is a frontrunner for the post, it is learnt.

In Karnataka, the BJP state executive meeting was held on Friday, the first since December 2013 while they are usually held every six months. While Karnataka party chief Prahlad Joshi's term is over, BJP does not seem in a hurry to replace him with assembly polls slated for 2018 and MP and former CM B S Yeddyurappa being the most likely CM candidate for BJP. But even if Joshi is repeated, state party leaders feel there is need to make it official.

In Bihar, where BJP was mauled in the assembly polls last November, the party has been waiting for a change in leadership. Even as Mangal Pandey's tenure is over, BJP is likely to take it up only in May after the present round of assembly polls and panchayat polls in the state get over.