New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) yesterday issued a notification for the party president’s elections amid expectations that incumbent Nitin Gadkari will get another term as no other contender had emerged for the post.
The notification, issued by party general secretary Thawarchand Gehlot, said that the filing of nominations will take place on Wednesday in the party office between 10am and 11.30am.
It said that the result will be declared the same day if the election is unanimous, and if there was a contest, the date of polling will be announced.
Party sources said Gadkari was likely to get a second term in office as no other contender has emerged in the party so far. They said consultations had already been held between Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) functionaries, leaders and BJP leaders on the choice of president.
The RSS, the ideological mentor of the BJP, favours Gadkari’s continuation in the post, the sources said. There have been demands in the party against giving Gadkari a second term in the wake of allegations relating to financial wrongdoing in Purti Group linked to him.
While a section of the party feels that the party’s efforts to pin the Congress on anti-corruption plank could be affected due Gadkari’s linkage to controversy surrounding the Purti Group, there is also a view that the allegations were not serious and there was nothing against him personally.
The party has already given a clean chit to Gadkari on the alleged wrongdoings in investments in Purti Group, based on the probe done by S Gurumurhty, a financial analyst considered close to the RSS.
Meanwhile, the BJP sought to link Rahul Gandhi’s elevation as the Congress vice president to “family inheritance”, and said he sounded like a leader of the opposition in his first speech after assuming the new role.
“The BJP’s prime ministerial candidate would be selected on the basis of his leadership abilities and not on “family inheritance”, party leader Arun Jaitley said at a function in Bangalore.
IANS
