New Delhi, Sep 14 (IANS): Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jairam Thakur on Tuesday afternoon reached the national capital and he is scheduled to meet BJP president J.P. Nadda.
Denying speculation of any change of guard in the hill state ahead of next year's assembly polls, a party insider said that the meeting was planned 10 days ago and nothing should be read between the lines.
It is learnt that Nadda will be meeting Thakur and other senior party leaders from Himachal Pradesh and is likely to discuss possible by-polls and next year's assembly polls. The meeting will be held later in the day.
"10 days ago a meeting of the chief minister and senior leaders of Himachal Pradesh was planned with Nadda ji and it will be held today. It has been called to discuss organisational issues and party preparedness for by-polls and next year's state polls," a senior party functionary aware of the meeting told IANS.
Sources said that BJP Himachal Pradesh president Suresh Kashyap and other senior leaders from the state are in the national capital for the meeting.
After reaching Delhi, Thakur also said that he came for a scheduled meeting.
Thakur arriving in Delhi to meet Nadda has fuelled speculation about possible change of guard in Himachal Pradesh on the lines of Uttarakhand, Karnataka and Gujarat.
Four BJP chief ministers were changed in three states - Uttarakhand, Karnataka and Gujarat -- in the last six months. In March, the saffron party replaced Uttarkhand then chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat with Lok Sabha member Tirath Singh Rawat. In July, four months after being made chief minister Tirath Singh Rawat was replaced by two time MLA Pushkar Singh Dhami.
After Uttarakhand, BJP replaced B.S. Yediyurappa with B.S. Bommai. Last week, Vijay Rupani was replaced by Bhupendra Patel as Gujarat Chief Minister.
Another senior party functionary said, "Currently there is no talk about any change of guard in Himachal Pradesh but nothing can be said about the future."