Closed door meetings between top BJP and RSS leaders on Thursday sparked speculation about some immediate issues on which the ruling party has yet to take a final call.
Government formation in Delhi and the constitution of newly-elected party president Amit Shah’s team of office-bearers besides preparations for the upcoming elections in critical States such as Maharashtra and Haryana are top among the various issues that engaged the BJP-RSS brass.
The first round of discussions took place at former BJP president Nitin Gadkari’s residence at Teen Murti Lane here.
Besides Gadkari and Shah, Home Minister Rajnath Singh too was present in the meeting apart from RSS leaders Suresh Joshi and Suresh Soni.
The RSS leaders were also reportedly invited for a meeting at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 7 Race Course Road residence.
Although Shah’s name has been announced by the BJP’s top decision-making body, the parliamentary board, he is still to be formally endorsed by the party’s national council.
Completing the process The BJP’s national council is expected to meet early next month to complete the process.
The new BJP president is expected to announce his team of national office-bearers soon afterwards. Currently, Shah is functioning with a truncated team, with at least 10 office bearers moving to the Union Cabinet.
Fresh faces Besides former party president Rajnath who was elevated to the Union Cabinet, vice presidents Jual Oram, Uma Bharti, Smriti Irani, general secretaries Ananth Kumar, Thawar Chand Gehlot and Dharmendra Pradhan, party treasurer Piyush Goyal and spokespersons Prakash Javdekar and Nirmala Sitharaman too have shifted to the Government.
Shah’s new team is thus expected to elevate several fresh faces to the national level.
The consultations on Thursday also reportedly revolved around government formation in Delhi. A final decision will be taken in yet another meeting scheduled for Friday.
Although the Delhi unit is pushing for formation of government with the help of a lone JD(U) MLA and a split in the Congress, some in the central leadership have misgivings about it. There will be clarity on the issue after the final round of meetings is over by Friday.