State units' rift impedes BJP chief poll

A NEW NATIONAL PRESIDENT IS ELECTED AFTER ORGANISATIONAL POLLS, INCLUDING COMPLETION OF APPOINTMENT OF STATE UNIT CHIEFS IN AT LEAST 50% OF THE STATES

- Smriti Kak Ramachandran

NEW DELHI: The central leadership of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which awaits its new national president, has had to step in to quell disagreements and differences in a clutch of states such as Karnataka and Telangana over the choice of who will lead the party's state unit.

In Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, the process of selecting new state unit chiefs has also been mired in controversies amid lack of consensus on the probable candidates, people aware of the details said.

The process of electing new state chiefs has a bearing on the election of the new national president. As per the party's constitution, a new national president is elected after organisational elections, including completion of appointment of state unit presidents in at least 50% of the states. The term of incumbent party chief JP Nadda was over last year, but he was given an extension keeping in view the general election.

With organisational polls still underway and yet to be completed in the requisite number of states, Nadda's successor, who was expected to be announced in January, is still awaited.