The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has set in motion organisational changes in order to prepare itself for the coming Assembly elections in different states. According to sources, the organisational changes might be effected either before the onset of pitra paksh on 5 September, or after 19 September, when it ends. Accordingly, the Union Cabinet will also see a reshuffle as many ministers may be moved to the organisation and vice versa. According to sources, B.S. Yeddyurappa will remain the chief ministerial candidate for Karnataka despite fresh corruption charges levelled against him. A senior party leader said that there should not be any confusion about it, as the party’s stand is very clear that it would contest the Assembly elections under his leadership. A BJP source said that two Janata Dal United (JDU) leaders from the Rajya Sabha would be inducted into the Union Cabinet, while there is also the possibility of the AIADMK joining the Union Council of Ministers. BJP president Amit Shah was supposed to go to Tamil Nadu, but now it is speculated that he will go there after the AIADMK joins the NDA at the Centre. Regarding Maharashtra, the source said Congress leader Narayan Rane could join the BJP, though he said there has not been any formal request from the state unit so far.
The source also indicated that Assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh would be contested under a BJP chief ministerial candidate. There is speculation that either J.P. Nadda or Anurag Thakur would be made the CM candidate. The BJP has appointed Union Minister Arun Jaitley as the BJP’s election in-charge for the Gujarat Assembly elections, while his Cabinet colleague, Prakash Javadekar will be in charge of the Karnataka elections, which will be held early next year.
The party leadership has also appointed four other Union ministers—Narendra Singh Tomar, Nirmala Sitharaman, Jitendra Singh and P.P. Choudhary—as co-in-charges for the Gujarat elections, which are scheduled for later this year.
Another Union Minister, Piyush Goyal will be co-in-charge of Karnataka. Another Union Minister Thawarchand Gehlot has been appointed as the election in-charge for Himachal Pradesh, which is also scheduled to go for elections later this year. The last Assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat were held in November and December 2012, respectively. The results were announced on 20 December 2012. The last Karnataka Assembly elections were held in May 2013. The leader said that the BJP was trying to strengthen its position in states such as Tripura, Tamil Nadu, Odisha and West Bengal and preparing the ground to contest elections on its own.