U’khand BJP in a flap over fake letter on shift of leaders

With Indian politics now witnessing a change of guard in various states by the high command of their respective parties, the ruling BJP in the poll-going hill state of Uttarakhand, which had recently seen three chief ministers in a span of four months, went into a real tizzy. A letter signed by BJP national general secretary and party headquarters in-charge Arun Singh regarding an organisational appointment read: BJP national president J.P. Nadda has appointed Vinod Chamoli, MLA Uttarakhand, as the BJP Uttarakhand state president, with immediate effect.”

This of course immediately went viral on the social media. The BJP clarified later that no such letter had been issued by the central leadership and claimed that it had ordered a probe into the matter. Speculation is, however, rife that the BJP top brass could make some key changes in the state unit’s organisational structure, with an eye on the coming polls.

Mr Madan Kaushik was appointed as state BJP chief in March this year, a couple of days after Trivendra Singh Rawat was replaced by Tirath Singh Rawat as the chief minister.

The letter on Mr Singh’s official letterhead ended up causing a great deal of anxiety in the state BJP, with party leaders calling up Mr Kaushik and other senior leaders to clarify matters. Mr Kaushik, who was in Haldwani to attend an event, was also surprised as no official communication had been received by him from the party’s central leadership. But the letter, which went viral on the social media, caused so much worry in the party that Mr Chamoli, who is an MLA from Dharampur, was forced to issue a statement asking people as well as BJP workers not to pay any heed to the letter.