In Rajasthan, BJP mandal polls hang fire amid infighting, delay state chief selection | Political Pulse News


The BJP’s ongoing organisational polls have been delayed in the party-ruled Rajasthan, where the elections of one-third of the mandal presidents have still not taken place due to tussle between various party factions to get their nominees chosen.

This has made a cascading impact on the elections of the BJP’s district committee chiefs and that of the state party chief as they have also got delayed.

According to the BJP’s constitution, the state party chief can only be elected after at least 50% of the district presidents are named. Similarly, the district president can be elected only following the appointment of at least 50% of the mandal presidents.

BJP sources said the party leadership has now directed its Rajasthan unit to complete the process of naming all mandal chiefs to be followed by the appointment of the district presidents. The election of the state party president was to take place on 30 December last year with the mandal and district committees supposed to be in place by November 30 and December 15 respectively, as per the original schedule.

BJP national general secretary (organisation) B L Santhosh and party national general secretary in charge of Rajasthan Radha Mohan Das Agarwal were said to have expressed concerns over these delays.

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During his visit to Jaipur Wednesday, Agarwal held a meeting with the current state party president Madan Rathore and the state party elections in-charge Narayan Panchariya. Although Agarwal did not make any statements, his visit was aimed to speed up the elections of the remaining mandal presidents.

Santhosh also visited the state BJP headquarters in Jaipur on January 15 and directed the state party leaders to expedite the elections of the mandal chiefs before proceeding with picking the district presidents.

In the BJP’s organisational elections, “consensus” rather than “contests” have generally been the norm in choosing the party chiefs at various levels. In Rajasthan, however, the game of one-upmanship involving various party factions is delaying the consensus process.

“A slew of party MLAs, MPs and senior leaders are trying to push the candidature of their nominees as mandal chiefs in their belts. These leaders prefer such candidates who are their loyal supporters or those who would not challenge them in future. This internal tug-of-war has caused significant delays despite the party’s efforts to check it,” said a BJP leader.

In Jaipur Civil Lines, BJP MLA Gopal Sharma and former state party president Arun Chaturvedi are said to be at loggerheads over the appointment of the local mandal president. In Bagru near Jaipur, party MLA Kailash Verma is facing opposition from within the party over his bid to get his supporter elected as the mandal chief.

In former chief minister Vasundhara Raje’s home turf, Dholpur, her opponents are trying to create hurdles in the selection of some of her loyalists as the mandal chiefs there, sources said.

Many senior BJP leaders including party MLAs and MPs had served as a district party president or mandal chief in the past. These positions are seen in the party circles as a “stepping stone” for young leaders for achieving greater success in their careers.

There are over 51,000 BJP booth committees in Rajasthan, with one mandal president in charge of 40-70 booth panels. Of a total posts of 1,135 mandal presidents, only about 750 have been named so far. This has also caused a delay in the election of 44 organisational district presidents in the state.

Speaking to The Indian Express, BJP MP Ghanshyam Tiwari, who is also the convener of the party appeal committee in the mandal chief elections, refuted the claims that the party was facing factional troubles during the organisational polls. “There is no such tug-of-war. We have a democratic process to elect candidates. This will take time. We will wrap up the mandal president elections in January and then continue with further proceedings.”

BJP sources said Madan Rathore is expected to be named for a second term as the state party president as he took charge of the post only in July 2024. A Rajya Sabha MP, Rathore belongs to the OBC community and was a former party MLA and RSS pracharak.

“It has been a norm to let the current state BJP president continue unless the high command prefers a change. Madan Rathore has good equations with CM Bhajanlal Sharma and the party leadership. It is expected that he will retain his position,” said a senior party leader.

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