The national executive meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will be held later this month, where the party will formally announce its new president, people familiar with the development said.
At present, Union home minister Amit Shah is the party’s national president and former Cabinet Minister JP Nadda is the working president.
The party is in the process of appointing new chiefs for its state units, and the appointment in at least 50% of the states is likely by the end of next week.
A party functionary, speaking to HT on condition of anonymity said the names of new office bearers will also be announced soon after the appointment of the new party president.
“At present the process of organisational elections are underway in some states and by the end of this month, these will be completed in 50% of the states. As per the party’s rules, the announcement of a new party chief can be made with new organisational set up in at least 50% of the states,” the functionary said.
As per the party’s constitution, any 20 members of the electoral college of a state can jointly propose any person who has been an active member for four terms and has 15 years of membership, for the post of national president. But such joint proposal should come from not less than five states where elections have been completed for the national council. The constitution also specifies that the process for the election of the national president would begin only after 50% of the elections of the national council members are complete.
The new chief will take over at a time when the party is preparing for assembly polls in Delhi on February 8 and in Bihar later in the year. Normally, the party chief holds the post for three years The party is also in the process of reassessing its organisational structure in states, after having faced a slew of defeats in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and, more recently, in Jharkhand.
The ruling party is also dealing with criticisms over a slugging economy and protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and proposed pan-India National Register of Citizens (NRC).
After Shah took over as the Union minister for home affairs after the general elections last year, former minister JP Nadda was given charge as the party’s working president in June.
