Race for top posts: UP BJP chief or national president? Jury divided within the party on who will be elected first

LUCKNOW: With the BJP brass expediting the process to elect chiefs of party's state units, discussions and debates over the next UP BJP chief have intensified among the party functionaries.

The question though is whether the appointment will be done before the election of the BJP national president.The jury in UP BJP is divided.One section of BJP functionaries, whom TOI spoke to, cited the possibility of UP BJP chief being appointed before the election of the national president. However, another section said since the election of UP BJP head will not be a lone development, the process could be deferred and taken up after the election of the BJP national chief.They said the election of state party chief will be deferred because along with changes in the organisation the Yogi cabinet too could be reshuffled. Since the process is interlinked and might need some brainstorming, the state unit chief election will take time, they added.A BJP functionary said there is still time to elect the national president since the monsoon session of Parliament will begin after two weeks - the time frame set by the party to pick its national head.

However, a senior BJP functionary told TOI that time is running out to choose the UP BJP chief since the process will take at least four days. He said the party will have to publish the list of voters after calling for objections, etc. This will take at least two days, he said, adding that once the list is published, only then the nomination for the UP BJP chief will begin. A day after the nomination, observer Piyush Goyal would announce the new BJP chief.

Before that, a date for the election of the new BJP chief would be announced, followed by the publishing of the voters' list at the BJP office, the BJP functionary said.Voters in the election of UP BJP chief include one member from each assembly, who are called "prantiya parshads" in the BJP, and 20% of the total sitting MLAs and MPs. These prantiya parshads have been elected along with the district BJP chiefs. This means that prantiya parshads from 70 organisational districts have been elected.

The number of these parshads from 70 organisational districts would be over 300. District chiefs would also be present when the election of the state BJP chief takes place but will not have voting rights, the BJP leader said.Rather than who will be the new BJP chief, the question now is when will the new UP BJP chief be appointed. The second question is whether the state unit will see only changes at the organisational level or both in the organisation and govt simultaneously.Since UP will go to Assembly polls in 2027, rejig in the organisation and govt will be done keeping this in mind.