Amit Shah emerges frontrunner to lead BJP

Amit Shah is emerging as a frontrunner in the race for the top post in the BJP.

If selected, 50-year-old Shah will be the youngest BJP party president. The party general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh, which the BJP swept in the Lok Sabha polls, is known for his organisational deftness. If Shah becomes the BJP president, it will mean enhanced synergies between the BJP-led NDA government and the party since Shah and Modi complement each other, sources said.

The other name doing the rounds is that of 54-year-old BJP general secretary JP Nadda, a Rajya Sabha MP from Himachal Pradesh, who is also an organisation man. Like Shah, he too is a Modi confidante. The BJP is now targeting assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana and possibly Delhi and Bihar later this year. Shah, whose tactics resurrected the party in UP, is seen as the appropriate choice to formulate the party strategy in these state elections.

The government formation, which drew several office bearers including party president Rajnath Singh into its fold, has left several vacancies in the BJP, which follows the principle of one-man one-post. The party is looking for young faces to fill the vacancies, sources said. They added that discussions are on between the party and the RSS. A party reshuffle is unlikely before the end of this month.

Two general secretaries — Dharmendra Pradhan and Thawarchand Gehlot — and party treasurer Piyush Goyal have also moved into Modi's team. Spokespersons Prakash Javadekar and Nirmala Sitharaman are also ministers. While Pradhan and Gehlot are Rajya Sabha members, Javadekar and Sitharaman will get the party's vacant berths in the Upper House.