Lucknow/New Delhi, June 11,DHNS: Though the BJP is yet to decide on projecting a chief ministerial nominee for the 2017 Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, it is already facing dissension over possible candidates.
Speculation was rife that Home Minister Rajnath Singh could be projected as the party’s face in UP. Clarifying that he was not in the race for the top post, Singh told reporters in Lucknow on Friday, ''BJP mein aur bhi kai kaabil log hain'', (there are many capable people in BJP).” He, however, made it clear that he was ready to shoulder any responsibility given to him by the party. ''I will cooperate in every way to make sure the BJP wins the next Assembly elections,” Singh, a former UP chief minister, said.
Meanwhile, there seems to be dissension against Singh if he is made the chief ministerial nominee.
Former party MP Ramakant Singh, who had unsuccessfully contested from Azamgarh against SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav and lost narrowly, said Singh's projection as chief minister could ''hit'' the party prospects hard in the state.
Yadav told reporters in Azamgarh on Friday that Singh's remarks on providing reservation to the most backwards from within the OBC quota had not gone down well with the Yadavs and Kurmis. Singh, while addressing a meeting in Mau on Thursday, advocated reservation for the most backwards among the backward castes.
The BJP plans to cash in on the Thakur votes through Singh, considered one of the most prominent party leaders from the state. To keep the forward castes intact, the party has fielded state vice-president Shiv Pratap Shukla, a Brahmin, for the June 11 Rajya Sabha elections, and shifted Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi to Jharkhand.
In Allahabad, BJP youth wing workers again demanded that Sultanpur MP Varun Gandhi be made the party's face in the state. An internal survey indicated that Gorakhpur MP Yogi Adityanath, HRD Minister Smriti Irani and Gandhi have emerged frontrunners for the top post.
Of the three, Adityanath may find a berth in the Council of Ministers, party sources said in New Delhi. It remains to be seen if the party will announce a nominee for the chief minister’s post during the BJP national executive meeting scheduled to be held at Allahabad from Sunday.