BJP gears up to pick state chiefs ahead of its national president election

New Delhi, Apr 17 (PTI) The BJP is likely to pick the chiefs of several state units in the coming days to pave the way for the election of its national president, sources said on Thursday.
    Top BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union ministers Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh, besides national president J P Nadda, have held consultations in the last few days, amid indications that the ongoing exercise for organisational changes will conclude in most of the states soon.
    As per the BJP's constitution, the party has to elect its chiefs in 19 of its 37 organisational states before the process to elect its national president is kicked off.
    Party sources said nearly 15 state presidents have been elected since the BJP's nationwide membership drive, a precursor to picking new office-bearers at various levels of the organisation starting from booths, began in September last year.
    However, the party is yet to pick its heads in several big states such as Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Karnataka and Gujarat.
    Sources said the consultation process with the RSS, considered the ideological mothership of the party, has been continuing.
    "Once the appointment is made in some of the states, the process for electing Nadda's replacement will begin soon," a party leader said, acknowledging that the entire exercise has stretched for a rather long period of time.
    Assembly elections in states like Bihar, where it is due later this year, and West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala, where it is due in the first half of the next year, will weigh on the mind of the party's top brass as it readies to pick a new national president.
    Nadda was elected national president in February 2020 and has been on an extension since his three-year term ended.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)