Amid indications that new chief ministers for Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh may be named over the weekend, the BJP on Friday appointed central observers for electing the leader of the legislative party in the three states. The saffron party won three out of the five assembly elections, results of which were declared on December 3.
Defence minister Rajnath Singh was appointed central observer for Rajasthan, while Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar for Madhya Pradesh and tribal affairs minister Arjun Munda for Chhattisgarh. The new legislative party leaders are set to become chief ministers of the three states.
According to a statement by the BJP, besides Singh, party leaders Saroj Pandey and Vinod Tawde are also being sent to Rajasthan as central observers. Similarly, besides Khattar, party leaders K Laxman and Asha Lakra are being sent to MP as central observers. For Chhattisgarh, besides Munda, another union minister Sarbananda Sonowal and party leader Dushwant Kumar Gautam are being sent as central observers.
The central observers will travel to their respective state to oversee the meetings of newly elected MLAs, where the future CMs will be named.
A senior BJP leader said no decision has been taken yet on the CM choices in the three states and the party will keep in mind social, regional, governance and organisational interests in picking them. Leaders from the three states have been meeting the top party brass, including union home minister Amit Shah and national president JP Nadda, but sources played down their significance, saying such meetings are routine.
Who are the possible CM choices?
Former Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje, whose meeting with many newly elected MLAs have raised eyebrows, met Nadda in the New Delhi on Thursday (December 7). Narendra Singh Tomar, a seasoned BJP leader from MP whose resignation as union minister was accepted the day before, and Baba Balaknath, who is from Rajasthan, met Shah on the same day. Both quit the Lok Sabha after becoming MLAs in their states.
Tomar and union minister Prahlad Singh Patel, who comes from politically significant other backward classes (OBCs), are seen as possible CM choices in MP along with the incumbent Shivraj Singh Chouhan. If Raje’s meetings with MLAs have been seen by some observers as her show of strength, Chouhan’s political tours in his home state are being viewed as the OBC leader’s assertion of his political heft amid a view that the BJP is considering new faces as CMs in the three states.
Patel and Tomar are among 12 BJP MPs elected to three state assemblies and have quit their parliamentary memberships. Chhattisgarh BJP president Arun Sao, an OBC leader, union minister Gomati Sai and Lata Usendi, both of whom come from scheduled tribes, are seen as serious contenders for the top seat in the state due to their social background, image and relatively young profile.
(With PTI inputs)
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