New Delhi: The excitement around the selection of the new national president has increased once again in the Bharatiya Janata Party. After making C.P. Radhakrishnan of the OBC caste the candidate for the post of Vice President, it is now believed that BJP can once again give the post of national president to the upper caste. The current national president J.P. Nadda also comes from the upper caste.
To handle the caste politics of the opposition, BJP already has a dominance of backward castes on important posts. Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself is a major OBC face. Giving a chance to OBCs on all important posts, however, can weaken the upper caste base of BJP. Therefore, experts believe that BJP can give the opportunity to someone from the upper caste for the post of national president for now.
The decision of the national president is also linked to the political equations of Uttar Pradesh. In Uttar Pradesh, the opposition is giving importance to the politics of backward classes. The Samajwadi Party is doing the politics of PDA — backward, Dalit and minority votes. Congress too is working on OBC mobilisation. If the national president is from the upper caste, then the party can make a Dalit the president of Uttar Pradesh.
But the key question remains: when will BJP elect the national president? The party also has to elect presidents for Gujarat, Karnataka and Punjab. According to reports, the process of electing the national president can begin immediately after the vice president election. BJP is not saying it openly but is indicating that the Bihar election will be fought under the leadership of the new national president.
This means that the election of the national president should be held in October at any cost. A new government has to be formed in Bihar by November 29, and in this regard, the code of conduct can be imposed in the first week of October. The election of the vice president is to be held on September 9. It now remains to be seen whether BJP starts the process of electing the national president as per the discussions, or postpones the matter till after the Bihar elections. The current president J.P. Nadda has already been looking after the party for more than one and a half years even after his term ended. This is the first time there has been such a delay in the election of the president in BJP.
There are reports that several rounds of meetings have taken place between the RSS and BJP. Broadly, the decision has now been made as to who will be made the president. Whoever becomes the president of BJP now will lead the party in elections across many major states, including Uttar Pradesh.
