Despite Bihar debacle, Amit Shah likely to get second term as BJP chief, may induct new faces

Amit Shah, a close confidant of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is most likely to be re-elected as BJP president later this month.

New Delhi: Despite his party's humiliating defeat in the recently concluded assembly elections in Bihar, Amit Shah is most likely to be re-elected as BJP president later this month.

However, Shah's re-election as the BJP chief will also witness revamping of the saffron party.

As per media reports, while some new faces will be inducted in the party, including at least one cabinet minister, some of those who hav not performed well might be axed.

Reports says that at least half of the state BJP units will have their new teams in place before the election of the national president, which is scheduled for the end of January.

With assembly elections due in Uttar Pradesh next year, Shah's would like to have his close confidants in the Uttar Pradesh unit because polls here would be his “biggest challenge” since BJP's debacle in Bihar.

For the Samajwadi Party-ruled state, the BJP leadership is mulling a backward community leader to replace Laxmikant Bajpai – the incumbent state unit chief.

Swatantra Dev Singh, who started his political career in the ABVP and is a prominent face of the UP BJP, is most likely to be appointed the UP BJP chief while Shrikant Sharma, currently a national secretary, could be appointed general secretary in order to promote a Brahmin face.

However, after BJP's humiliating defeat in Bihar, Amit Shah did not have a free hand in appointing his close associates in all state units, and largely gave in to the respective CMs’ choices.

While Nandkumar Singh Chauhan got a second term in MP, Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje’s loyalist Ashok Parnami was re-elected in the state. The chief of Chhattisgarh unit, Dharamlal Kaushik, was also re-elected. As for Kerala and West Bengal, which go to polls later this year, the RSS’s influence is evident.

In Kerala, the party has appointed Hindutva hardliner Kummanam Rajashekharan and in West Bengal, it elevated Dilip Ghosh, who joined the party from the RSS just a year ago.