MPs Who Quit After Poll Win Meet PM, BJP Brainstorms Over Chief Ministers

New Delhi: 

The crucial issue of picking Chief Ministers for three heartland states ahead of next year’s general elections continued today with a meeting of BJP’s top leaders at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s official residence. Earlier today, the 12 MPs who resigned from parliament after winning the assembly polls had met the Prime Minister. Sources indicate that this could be meet to take the final call.

Among the 12 MPs who resigned were Narendra Tomar, Prahlad Patel, Riti Pathak, Rakesh Singh, and Uday Pratap Singh from Madhya Pradesh, and Rajyavardhan Rathore, Kirodi Lal Meena, and Diya Kumari from Rajasthan. 

Earlier this week, the BJP wrested Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh from the Congress and retained its hold on Madhya Pradesh amid a buzz of anti-incumbency.

In all three states, the party had gone into polls without a Chief Ministerial candidate, contesting under the banner of PM Modi — a move that delivered in spades.

Now with the victory, the knotty question of who would helm the states has come up. The brain-storming has been on since Sunday, feeding speculation about a hunt for new faces.

Today’s session is the second consecutive meet — yesterday the leaders had been in in a four-hour huddle. The three states together account for 65 Lok Sabha seats and a wrong decision can prove expensive for the BJP in 2024.

Sources indicated that PM Modi is in favour of picking candidates on basis of class rather than caste. The buzz is that a tribal could be picked for Chhattisgarh, a Backward Classes representative in Madhya Pradesh and  a Rajput in Rajasthan.