NAMING OF NEW BJP CMS IN THREE STATES IN LAST LAP

There is a possibility that in these states there could be appointment of multiple Deputy Chief Ministers or guardian ministers.

- RAHUL CHHABRA

The BJP, which won the recent Assembly elections under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership, without naming any chief ministerial candidate, continued to maintain a suspense over the names of new Chief Ministers in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh even as party leaders indicated that the wait for formal announcement of CMs or their deputies could end on Sunday.

To some BJP leaders the suspense around the CMnaming process appeared superficial as they claimed the proceedings were taking place as per the script written by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and National president J.P. Nadda.

The picture in Madhya Pradesh started getting a bit clear with President Droupadi Murmu accepting the resignation of Union Ministers Narendra Singh Tomar and Prahlad Patel, both of whom have won in the Assembly elections.

Sources said Patel appeared to be the frontrunner for the CM's post in Madhya Pradesh, though both the leaders belong to the OBC. The BJP is determined to replace the current CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who himself is an OBC, with a leader from the same social section as Patel also belongs to the Lodh community. Tomar may be considered for another key responsibility in the new government or may be considered for Speaker's post. Ahead of the observer's meeting with MLAs, Patel met the Governor and completed some formalities and later met Chouhan on Friday.

Civil Aviation Minister and Gwalior royal Jyotiraditya Scindia's name also remained in circulation though he himself made efforts to deny this.