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BJP has to surpass 18, the half-way mark, before it can kickstart the election process for the national president and wants the 3 states to be part of the voting bloc
(From Left) UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, MP Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, and Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel. (News18)
Fourteen states and Union Territories out of 37 have so far elected state BJP presidents. The party will have to surpass 18—the half-way mark—before it can kickstart the election process for the national president to elect JP Nadda’s successor. However, the BJP is adamant that bigger states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, poll-bound Bengal and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state Gujarat should be among the 18.
A month ago, BJP’s Arun Singh was asked to track how states are moving, and it has come to light that little progress has happened on the election front so far, which was briefly interrupted by the Pahalgam attack followed by India-Pakistan tensions.
While none of these states, along with many more in the south of Vindhyas like Telangana, could decide on their state president, the focus remains particularly on three BJP-ruled states—Yogi Adityanath’s Uttar Pradesh, Mohan Yadav’s Madhya Pradesh, and Bhupendra Patel’s Gujarat.
YOGI’S UTTAR PRADESH
The largest state of India that will go to polls in 2027 is yet to finalise its new state president. In fact, the process was slow from the very beginning.
Back in March, News18 had reported how the organisational election process in Uttar Pradesh was only partially complete in around 70 districts, while the BJP has a total of 98 organisational districts. The district president elections were challenging for the BJP from the outset, with many contenders vying for positions.
But even by the end of May, Uttar Pradesh is yet to have its own state president. During Yogi Adityanath’s spring visit to Delhi when he met JP Nadda, the chief minister is believed to have discussed the replacement of Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary—the Jat face of the BJP—who has been steering the organisation in UP since 2022.
BJP faces the same question in May as it was facing in March: An upper caste state president or OBC? If the party opts for a Brahmin president again, as it did with Mahendra Nath Pandey—something several prominent Brahmin leaders have already begun lobbying for—Shiv Pratap Shukla and Mahesh Sharma will be considered frontrunners.
Keshav Prasad Maurya remains a key OBC face for the party in Uttar Pradesh if the BJP goes for an OBC face. However, many within the BJP’s Delhi leadership are advocating for a Dalit state president in UP, believing it could help the lotus bloom again in 2027. If that happens, Lakshman Acharya, the state vice-president, and Vidya Sagar Sonkar, are considered strong contenders for the post.
POST-SHIVRAJ MADHYA PRADESH
The Madhya Pradesh under Mohan Yadav is different from how it was under Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Public bickering and indiscipline appear to have become a hallmark of the state unit. Though Yadav is an old hand who is known to both the Sangathan and the administration, he hasn’t been able to contain mini rebellions.
Reports suggest Nadda urged state president VD Sharma to warn erring MLAs against indiscipline. For example, MLA Chintamani Malviya publicly opposed the state government’s plan for a 3,300-hectare spiritual city in Ujjain, leading to a party notice for indiscipline.
Last year in December, the BJP in Madhya Pradesh had struggled with internal elections, cancelling polls in 18 blocks due to candidates providing false information, such as age or criminal records.
MLAs like Atul Bhansali and Devendra Pratap Singh openly criticising the state leadership too reveals a complex mix of factionalism, leadership struggles, and indiscipline among party members.
Sharma’s tenure as state president has exceeded five years, and while names like Narottam Mishra, Gopal Bhargava, and Bhupendra Singh are floated as replacements, no consensus has emerged, reflecting internal power struggles.
GUJARAT CONCERN
Gujarat has an image of an ideal state. When Amit Shah kickstarted his Madhya Pradesh election campaign, he reminded how Gujarat was a landslide victory made possible by Bhupendra Yadav who happened to be MP assembly poll’s BJP election in-charge.
But when it comes to electing a state president, even in the third week of May, Gujarat has joined other states like West Bengal, MP, Telangana. Its current state president CR Patil gets very little time to focus on the state after succeeding Gajendra Shekhawat as the Jal Shakti Minister.
Last year, Gujarat BJP witnessed an unprecedented churn as voices of dissent against the party’s choice of Lok Sabha candidates became louder. Then there were surprisingly many incidents of voluntary refusal to fight elections as well, like in Vadodara and Sabarkantha. In Sabarkantha, candidate Bhikaji Thakor refused to fight the election from the seat. BJP replaced him with Shobnaben while he was expecting another seat.
With Patil’s focus away from Gujarat, allegations of corruption emerged where police investigation into an alleged Rs 71-crore scam, stemming from works carried out under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), led to Bachubhai Khabad, the minister of state for Panchayat and Agriculture, whose two sons have been arrested in the case.
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