(Anita Saluja)
All eyes are on who will be the next BJP President. Choice on the name of the BJP President is always based on consensus between the party and the RSS. This time round, there has been inordinate delay, owing to the turf war between the Sangh Parivar and the Saffron Party. While the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah duo wants a free hand to pick a person of their choice, the Sangh wants to reclaim its say in the choice of next BJP President.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the RSS founder Keshav Baliram Hedgewar Memorial in the RSS Headquarters in Nagpur, way back on March 30. It is significant as it happened to be Gudi Padwa, the Maharashtrian New Year, besides the Centenary Year of RSS foundation. This was Prime Minister Modi’s first visit since he assumed office 11 years ago. Besides, it assumed significance as there was continuing impasse over choosing the new BJP President.
The meeting in Nagpur between RSS Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat and Prime Minister Modi seems to signal truce over the turf war, leading to early finalization of the new BJP President.
After serving as Working President in 2019, Jagat Prakash Nadda was elected BJP President in 2020. Following the expiry of his term in office in 2023, Nadda was given extension till June 2024, till the completion of the General Election. Later, he got yet another extension, but that, too, expired on January 1, 2025. Long after the expiry of extensions, Nadda continues to remain Party President, in the wake of the long delay in choosing his successor. While one man, one post is the norm, Nadda dons more hats than one. He is Union Health Minister, Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha, besides being BJP President.
For the first time since its inception on April 6, 1980, there has been an unusually long delay in choosing the BJP President. The party, which has always been a stickler for choosing its President on time, as stipulated in the BJP Constitution, appears to have slipped up, this time.
The Sangh always has a major say in choosing the BJP President. For instance, in 2005, in the wake of L K Advani’s visit to Pakistan in June 2005, where he visited Pakistan-founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s mausoleum in Karachi and praised him, sparked an uproar back home in India.
The Sangh felt embarrassed, given Jinnah’s role in Direct Action Day call of August 16, 1946, resulting in large-scale violence, which was followed by the Partition holocaust. Immediately, it issued the marching orders to Advani. Given his stature and his role in bringing the party to power with Atal Behari Vajpayee at the helm of the Government in the 1990s, the Sangh allowed Advani to choose the timing for his stepping down as BJP President. Advani requested time to continue in office till the BJP Silver Jubilee celebrations in Mumbai in December 2005.
The Sangh picked Rajnath Singh as the successor to L K Advani. Later, a Sangh loyalist, Nitin Gadkari, was moved to Delhi as BJP President. In the wake of a controversy, Gadkari had to make way and Rajnath Singh was back as BJP President. Throughout its history, the BJP has been choosing the party president only with the express approval of the Sangh.
A marked departure took place only in 2014, when, for the first time, Modi brought the party to power, not at the head of a coalition, but with an absolute majority for the BJP, on its own. As the then BJP President Rajnath Singh joined the Government, Prime Minister Modi handpicked Amit Shah to be the BJP President. With Modi repeating the feat in 2019, he could have his way in choosing the next BJP President, when J P Nadda succeeded Amit Shah.
For the first time in a decade, the BJP has slipped way below the halfway mark of 272, to 240 seats in the Lok Sabha. Now, the RSS senses an opportunity to reclaim its lost turf.
Treating the election results as a wake-up call, the Sangh wants to seize the moment and bring in the changes it wants to see. The Sangh wants as BJP President, someone who can galvanize the party cadres ahead of the crucial State Assembly elections, starting with the polls in Bihar later this year, in Southern States like Kerala and Tamil Nadu, besides West Bengal, in 2026 and in the Sangh bastions like Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat, in 2027.
The electoral verdict in 2024 seems to have changed the dynamics. The Sangh senses its opportunity now to step in, to regain control over its lost space in the BJP.
The Sangh has been stepping up pressure on the Modi Establishment on the issue of choosing the next BJP President. In August, 2024, a high-level meeting was held at the residence of Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. It was attended by J P Nadda, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, RSS second-in-command Dattatreya Hosabale and RSS Joint General Secretary Arun Kumar.
Eversince, there have been a string of parleys between the two sides, but there was no agreement. Crux of the matter is that the RSS prefers someone with strong organisational skills, while the BJP leaders want someone acceptable to the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah duo.
The Sangh feels that during the past decade, the Party President has been functioning more as an extension counter of the Modi Government. The Sangh feels that the time has come for choosing someone for the party post, who can function with greater degree of autonomy, coming out of the shadow of the Government. Its favourites include Shivraj Singh Chauhan, who belongs to the Sangh and is known for his administrative and organizational skills, as also Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and former BJP General Secretary (Organisation) Sanjay Joshi.
The BJP leadership, on the other hand, is looking at other alternatives. Among the Union Ministers it is looking at are Manohar Lal Khattar, Bhupendra Yadav or Dharmendra Pradhan. If it has to be from the South, it could be someone from Telangana, where the party sees potential to come to power. If it has to be a woman, it could be someone like Andhra Pradesh BJP President D Purandeshwari. Given the ongoing tussle, it may well turn out to be a dark horse.
However, it seems some agreement has been reached between the RSS and the BJP as hectic parleys are continuing among BJP satraps on the appointments of the Party State Presidents. Crucial states like Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Odisha, West Bengal and others are yet to get their Party Presidents.
(Writer is a Delhi-based Senior Journalist, Political Analyst and Commentator.)
