Hectic parleys in BJP units to pick CMs in heartland states

Hectic lobbying and back-to-back meetings to name the chief ministerial picks for Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh began in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday, a day after the party recorded a thumping victory in the three heartland states.

- Urvashi Dev Rawal

According to people familiar with the matter, the BJP brass has been holding back-to-back meetings with state units since the results were finalised late on Sunday, but no decision has yet been made on holding the legislative party meetings to that effect.

"The BJP brass will soon be appointing observers to oversee meetings of newly elected MLAs of the party in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan where they will elect their leaders. However, no date has been given for the legislative party meeting, so far," a leader familiar with the developments said, requesting anonymity.

Across the three states, the BJP contested the elections without a chief ministerial candidate with Prime Minister Narendra Modi leading the campaign. The decision to not field a CM face in Madhya Pradesh, and instead project a united state leadership, was the first time in three decades that the party did not field a candidate for the top position.

In Rajasthan, where the BJP won 115 of the 199 seats on Sunday, the party leadership held a series of meetings with its units in Jaipur and Delhi even as former chief minister and a possible contender for the CM post, Vasundhara Raje, met around 30 of the new MLAs at her residence in Jaipur. "We have come to seek blessings of the senior-most party leader in the state and congratulate her for the victory," said party leader Shankar Singh Rawat, who won from the Beawar seat.