BJP Future - 7

[ramana]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->NATION | Friday, September 4, 2009 | Email | Print |


Herculean task ahead for new BJP chief

Kumar Uttam | New Delhi

While it is not known who will succeed Rajnath Singh as the next BJP chief, one thing is sure: the new incumbent will have to grapple with a host of challenges that will test his mettle without allowing him the luxury of settling down. He has to pull the party out from the morass it is now in and provide it a new direction. <b>The new party president is expected to take over in December after Rajnath completes his term.</b>

For the new man, the biggest challenge would be to infuse new blood into the party that after a successful feat in a series of Assembly elections suddenly lost steam in the last leg of the race. Moreover, there are problems in some State units of the party and ‘rebels’ are giving sleepless nights for the party’s central leadership.

<b>The crucial Assembly election, including that in Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, are going to be one major test for the next head of the party</b>. Both the States go to poll in 2012.

By then, Modi would complete more than 10 years in power and, despite being a popular BJP Chief Minister, would be under tremendous pressure to repeat the magic. The party continues to remain in dire straits in the country’s largest State, where it slipped to the fourth position in the Parliamentary election. A resurgent Congress in Uttar Pradesh would always give the BJP a run for its money. .

<b>Punjab and Uttarakhand, where the BJP is in power either on its own or along with its ally</b>, would also go to poll in 2012 and the new president would have to sweat it out to retain them.

<b>Bihar would also be a big challenge for the BJP</b>. Though its alliance with JD(U) appears, as of now, far ahead of its nearest rivals, there have been genuine concerns in the BJP about Nitish Kumar’s road ahead.

<b>Finally, the new chief would have to make way for someone else before the next Lok Sabha election. Information trickling out of the BJP and the RSS offices in New Delhi suggests this is why both feel a low profile and neutral man without much lust for power and a grasp over the organisation should be elevated as party president.</b>

<b>There is consensus that the candidate has to be from outside the ‘Delhi circle’ now dominated by power players.</b> Names of several State leaders like IIT graduate and former Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and Maharashtra BJP president Nitin Gadkari besides others are doing the rounds but there is no official confirmation so far.

But the RSS is reportedly apprehensive about the ‘cooperation’ these non-profile leaders will receive from the heavyweight leaders in New Delhi. Sources say during his recent week-long stay in the national capital, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat tried to build a consensus among the second generation leaders of the party that they should identify the next head of the party and should cooperate.

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