BJP goes easy on naming CMs; Rumour mills grind Balaknath, Vaishnaw ahead of Rajasthan decision
Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnav and BJP MP Balak Nath
By Manish Anand
New Delhi, December 6: Fake news naming Mahant Balak Nath and Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw as next chief minister of Rajasthan has gone viral on social media. The posts are being wildly shared on social media channels. With the BJP not even calling the meeting of the parliamentary board, the creative minds have taken the social media with storm with their photoshops skills to fake the signature of the party’s Rajasthan in-charge Arun Singh.
Union Minister for Amit Shah is learnt to have held deliberations with Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of the calling the parliamentary board meeting. The rumour mills went wild on Wednesday after 10 MPs of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha who won the Assembly elections resigned from the membership of the Houses.
The BJP has already held consultations with the Rajasthan party president CP Joshi. Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje is also likely to come to the national capital on Thursday. She may meet the senior BJP functionaries. While Raje is likely to meet the senior party leaders, it will be premature to infer that she is the top contender for the post of the chief minister.
The MPs, who won the assembly elections from Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh recently, resigned from their posts. The MPs who now chosen to be MLAs are Narendra Singh Tomar, Prahlad Singh Patel, Rakesh Singh, Uday Pratap, Riti Pathak, Arun Sao, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Diya Kumari, Gomati Sai and Kirodi Lal Meena. The rumour mills are grinding their names for possible responsibilities in the states.
However, the term of the Rajya MP Kirodi Lal Meena, who quit his membership, was expiring early next year. The term of the Lok Sabha MPs was also of only four months left now since the general elections will be held in April-May next year.
The BJP has also on other occasions taken longer time to decide on the names of the chief ministers. Yogi Adityanath’s name was cleared for the post of the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh in 2017 after a long delay which had also given free run to the rumour mills.
With Shah holding the consultations with the prime minister, the BJP functinariers may be tasked with the responsibility to communicate to the CM hopefuls who have to make ways for others. Unlike Madhya Pradesh, the BJP doesn’t face the moral dilemma of the electoral mandate being attributed to a state leader.
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