The party has a 'one person-one post' principle, wherein a minister cannot be the state president at the same time.
The elevation of a number of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) functionaries to Prime Minister Narendra's Modi's council of ministers has made positions within the party vacant.
The post of BJP President, being helmed by Amit Shah before he was given the charge of the Home Ministry, is being closely watched.
Reports suggest that senior party leaders such as JP Nadda and Bhupender Yadav are among contenders for the top post. While Nadda was a minister in the first Narendra Modi Cabinet, and is trusted by both the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Yadav is a Rajya Sabha MP and BJP's national general secretary.
Along with the post of the BJP President, four other vacancies in the party structure have also opened up. The state unit presidents of Maharashtra, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have been elected as Lok Sabha MPs and have also been inducted in PM Modi's Cabinet, making their slots vacant.
According to a report by Economic Times, the saffron party has a 'one person-one post' principle, wherein a minister cannot be the state president at the same time. While MPs and legislators can simultaneously hold organisational posts, the report states that the party rarely allows a person to hold a government and a party post together.
Following this principle, now that the party's UP chief, Mahendra Nath Pandey, is Skill Development minister, the party is looking for his replacement.
The report states that BJP might make senior party leader and former MP, Manoj Sinha, the party's president in Uttar Pradesh. Sinha lost from the Ghazipur Lok Sabha seat to Afzal Ansari, a joint candidate of the Mahagathbandhan (Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party-Rashtriya Lok Dal) in UP. According to the report, Sinha's proximity to both Shah and PM Modi might also land him a Rajya Sabha nomination.
In Bihar, where the state unit chief Nityanand Rai was made the Minister of State (MoS) for Home, the report states that the party might give the state's charge to Radha Mohan Singh. Singh, a former agriculture minister, has been Bihar state unit chief for the BJP earlier, from 2006 to 2009. Reports indicate that along with Singh, Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Ram Kripal Yadav are also in contention for the top post.
Sources told the newspaper that the party might ask Raosaheb Danve, the Maharashtra state chief and MoS for Consumer Affairs to continue, considering the forthcoming elections in the state. Meanwhile, in Rajasthan, the report states that BJP might make Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore the state chief.
Meanwhile, BJP's Telangana chief G Kishan Reddy was made the MoS Home Affairs, and according to the report, the party is looking for his replacement in the state. The saffron party delivered an impressive performance in Telangana, where it won four Lok Sabha seats.
