BJP president Amit Shah announced that his party’s highest decision-making body, the parliamentary board, will be meeting on Sunday to determine who will be the next Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a member of this body, and it will decide who to send as central observers to elect the next CM in these States.
Field wide open
The field in both U.P. and Uttarakhand appears wide open for all manner of possibilities. In Uttar Pradesh, the choice for the BJP will depend on whether the party wants to give a sign to the non-Yadav OBC community of a full partnership or will plump for a face with a small community base but whom the leadership trusts implicitly. BJP president Amit Shah said, in his victory speech in Delhi, that the verdict in U.P. would end the politics of casteism, dynasty and minority appeasement.
“Therefore the choice is wide, and it will be someone who can deliver development in the two-and-a-half years to the general election,” said a source.
“Doosra Modi chahiye hoga (we will need a second Modi),” said the source.
Going by the past record, in Maharashtra, where a non-Maratha Devendra Fadnavis was chosen, or Haryana where a non-Jat first-time MLA M.L. Khattar was given the job, it could be anybody’s game.
Among the probables in U.P. are its State unit chief Keshav Prasad Maurya, who belongs to the non-Yadav OBC group and whose appointment may help keep this group in the BJP’s camp even in 2019. A new Kalyan Singh for the party, so to speak. Mr. Maurya may have to resign his Lok Sabha seat and contest Assembly polls, if he is to move to Lucknow.
An appointment in the Devendra Fadnavis or M.L. Khattar mould would be Union Minister for Telecommunications Manoj Sinha, who, as a Bhumihar does not belong to a community with a large presence but enjoys the confidence of Prime Minister Modi.
Other names making the rounds include Gorakhpur MP Yogi Adityanath, Union Minister Mahesh Sharma and a strong favourite, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh.
In Uttarakhand, the party already has at least three ex-chief ministers from its own party’s governments in the State – Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, Ramesh Pokhriyal, and B.C. Khanduri, as well as Congress rebel Vijay Bahuguna to consider. “The crown however may fall on someone completely new,” said a source.
That new choice could well be Trivendra Singh Rawat, former Minister and party in-charge for Jharkhand, as well as Ajay Bhatt, State unit chief. “Choices will fructify by tomorrow when party big wigs meet in Delhi,” said a source.
