New Delhi:
The crucial issue of picking Chief Ministers for three heartland states ahead of next year’s general elections started today with a mega meeting of BJP’s top leaders at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s official residence. Besides PM Modi and Union Minister Amit Shah, the meeting is being attended by 12 MPs who resigned from parliament after winning the assembly polls.
Today’s session is the second consecutive meet — yesterday the leaders had been in in a four-hour huddle.
Earlier this week, the BJP wrested Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh from the Congress and retained its hold on Madhya Pradesh amid a buzz on anti-incumbency.
In all three states, the party had gone into polls without a Chief Ministerial candidate, contesting under the banner of PM Modi — a move that delivered in spades.
Now with the victory, the knotty question of who would helm the states has come up. The brain-storming has been on since Sunday, feeding speculation about a hunt for new faces.
The tallest leaders of the states — Vasundhara Raje in Rajasthan, Raman Singh in Chhattisgarh and four-time Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chouhan, while being in the running, have left the decision to the Central leadership.
Of these, Rajasthan has the longest list of contenders. Besides Ms Raje, the front-runners include Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, part veteran Kirori Lal Meena and state BJP chief CP Joshi.
