BJP Legislative Party meeting to be held on 20 Mar

By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 17 Mar: Though it had been earlier planned to hold the meeting of the BJP Legislative Party meeting in Dehradun on 19 March, it has been delayed by one day now. The meeting will now be held on 20 March according to party sources. The meeting will be held to choose and approve the new leader of the BJP Legislative Party who will be the new Chief Minister of Uttarakhand.
Sources claimed that, while the outgoing CM Pushkar Singh Dhami still continues to be leading the race for the post, there are other factors that may affect the final decision. It may be recalled that Dhami would have been an automatic choice for the post but since he lost his own election from Khatima, other factors have come into consideration. So far, BJP has avoided repeating a defeated leader as CM but there is no hard rule or policy that it can’t be done. Some insiders claim that Dhami could still be made the CM but that would also depend on whether the outgoing Deputy CM of UP, Keshav Dev Maurya, is also repeated, as he also lost his own election. To play it safe, the BJP could choose to appoint the new leader from amongst the MLAs only. But, again, there is no such policy in the party which would mandate the party to choose only from the newly elected MLAs.
Other names in circulation are those of Rajya Sabha MP Anil Baluni, outgoing Cabinet Minister Dhan Singh Rawat and outgoing Cabinet Minister Satpal Maharaj. In addition, some other names like Madan Kaushik, Prem Aggarwal and Trivendra Singh Rawat are also in circulation. One rank outsider name in circulation is that of BJP General Secretary Suresh Bhatt though few people actually know him.
Sources claim that, earlier, the BJP legislative party meeting was planned on 19 March and the MLAs had been directed to reach Dehradun for the meeting but many of them had expressed inability to reach Dehradun by the morning of 19 March as this is day after Holi. Hence, the meeting has now been shifted to 20 March. Defence Minister Rajanth Singh and MoS Meenakshi Lekhi are also expected to arrive in Dehradun by the evening of 19 March. Both have been nominated as observers for the meeting and selection of new leader of the legislative party. Of course, their main work will be to ensure a consensus on the choice of the party high command which might already have decided on who will be next CM but one would have to wait for the meeting to be over for the announcement.
The party sources further claimed that the oath taking ceremony this time would be a grand one. In this regard, a meeting of the party office bearers was held today at the BJP State Headquarters.