The Asian Age

Shah may stay BJP chief till Oct. polls

- AGE CORRESPOND­ENT

Union home minister and BJP president Amit Shah is likely to continue heading the party till the Assembly polls in three states — Jharkhand, Maharashtr­a and Haryana — are over later this year. Other than the three BJPruled states, elections in Jammu and Kashmir, which is under the President’s rule since December 2018, may also take place by the end of this year. Sources disclosed that both within the

BJP and the RSS, there is a growing demand for Mr Shah to continue leading the party till the Assembly polls in these key states are over.

Though the BJP usually

follows the “one man-one post” principle for its leaders, the view within the Sangh Parivar is that the current leadership should continue the party’s victory procession that has started with Lok Sabha elections. Even though former Union minister J.P. Nadda’s name is doing the rounds as the frontrunne­r for the top post in the BJP, the Sangh Parivar is not in favour disturbing the organisati­onal order at this stage.

Known for his organisati­onal skills, Mr Shah is also famous for his connect with the cadre.

Though the BJP has Shah may stay BJP chief till Oct. polls initiated the process of organisati­onal polls in its state units, ■

■ Continued from Page 1 which will finally culminate in the election of a new party president, the decision to pick a party president is usually selected “unanimousl­y”.

On Sunday, Mr Shah held meetings with the party’s core group leaders from three Assembly poll-bound states. Party sources said Mr Shah held separate meetings with leaders from Maharashtr­a, Jharkhand and Haryana, all of which would go to polls around October-November this year, at the BJP headquarte­rs in Delhi.

Sources said the focus of the meetings was to assess the problems areas for the BJP during Assembly polls despite a good performanc­e in the Lok Sabha polls. In Haryana, the BJP won all 11 LS seats, in Jharkhand the party won 11 of the total 14 seats and in Maharashtr­a the BJPShiv Sena combine won 41 of the 48 Lok Sabha seats, with the BJP winning 23 alone.

The BJP is in power in all the three states and their CMs also attended the exercise.

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