Consensus eludes the selection of a new Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State president as rival factions refuse to budge from their stated positions and vehemently lobby for their candidates. Although a Central team of the BJP, led by secretary H. Raja, held individual parleys with members of the party’s core group in the State, besides State office-bearers and district presidents, on Friday, but there was no forward momentum.
A fortnight after Kummanam Rajasekharan was appointed Governor of Mizoram, the State unit remains headless, with no consensus among senior leaders on who should lead the party to the forthcoming general elections in 2019. Mr. Raja and Nalin Kumar Kateel, MP, are expected to submit their recommendation to party president Amit Shah on Saturday.
These are the favourites for the post
Senior leaders said State general secretaries K. Surendran, M.T. Ramesh and A.N. Radhakrishnan remained strong contenders to the post of party president in Kerala. “But then, the national leadership will surely consult the RSS [Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh]. However, it is unlikely at the moment that someone from outside will be chosen to head the party to the polls,” said a core committee member. He added that ‘other considerations’ – caste equations, the person’s track record and his/her ability to take along the allies – would also be counted.
Emissaries of the national leadership would meet RSS leaders on Saturday. The loyalists of the former president are understood to have argued for Mr. Ramesh, while the rival faction insisted on having Mr. Surendran for the post.
Whether the national leadership would pick up either one of them or opt for a new candidate is what remains to be seen. Those who participated in the consultations are aware that president Amit Shah alone would have the final say in the selection process. The emissaries would only report the feedback they received from the leaders to Delhi and can in no way influence the selection process.
