Bhopal, Feb 13(IANS): With the central BJP leadership all set to appoint new president for the Madhya Pradesh unit, senior leader of the ruling party, Narottam Mishra, denied of being in the race for the post.
Mishra made this statement after Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia reached his residence and the two held a closed-door meeting in Bhopal on Wednesday.
After reaching Bhopal, Scindia visited Raj Bhavan to meet Governor Mangubhai Patel, and then he arrived at Mishra's residence.
This closed-door meeting led to a lot of speculation in the state's political circles.
However, responding to media queries, former Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra said that Scindia had visited him for a courtesy meeting.
"Let me make it clear that I am not in the race for the BJP state president," he added.
Scindia's sudden visit to Mishra's residence also created a buzz as several other senior BJP leaders from the state have also visited him in the past few days.
Before that, senior BJP leader and Madhya Pradesh Urban Development Minister, Kailash Vijayvargiya had met Mishra last Thursday.
Political circles have been speculating that the ruling BJP is likely to appoint a new state BJP chief for Madhya Pradesh, and five-time former minister Narottam Mishra, who lost the Assembly election in 2023, is considered one of the potential candidates in the race.
Sitting Madhya Pradesh unit BJP president V.D. Sharma took charge of the state unit in February 2020 and completed his three-year tenure in February 2023.
However, with the Assembly elections nine months away, the party gave him an extension, and he is nearing the completion of four years in the post.
Notably, the BJP has finalised its district-level leadership appointments in Madhya Pradesh, unveiling names of all 62 district presidents in a phased manner and paving the way for the appointment of the next state president.
Sources told IANS that the state unit BJP has prepared a list of 431 party delegates, including the new district presidents.
All the delegates will be consulted before the central leadership decides on the successor of V.D. Sharma.