BJP wraps up consultations over national president, UP chief

After the announcement of the BJP's Gujarat and Jharkhand unit heads, all eyes are now on the party's national president and its Uttar Pradesh (UP) unit chief, with sources saying that the consultation process for both posts has been completed.

BJP may announce the heads of Delhi, Haryana, Karnataka, and Tripura in the coming days. Whereas its UP unit head announcement is likely to precede the national president. The entire consultation process for the UP unit head is complete, and now it is for the party top brass to take a call on whether it wants to go with an OBC face or a Brahmin leader, which would be linked with the changes in the state cabinet. The announcement is likely to be made after the Bihar polls.

The party's top brass would take its ideological mentor RSS into confidence for both the national president and UP unit chief. Wider consultations have already been held within the saffron family over the issue. Suggestions were sought from more than 80 BJP leaders, including active ones and also the party's veteran leaders, for the party's national president.


Names of the two most widely deployed election managers featured prominently in these deliberations, along with the name of a former chief minister.During these interactions, a Union minister from the south suggested that he didn't find himself 'saksham' (capable) for the post, while a former chief minister suggested that the BJP party president should be around 60 years of age, sources said.

When asked, a senior Sangh functionary said Sarakar (government) aur Sangathan (organisation) are two different entities. In the government, the Sangh wouldn't intervene, but Sangathan (the BJP) is part of Sangh Parivar, and an able 'sangathak' (organiser) is needed to lead the organisation.