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ShareMumbai: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) could appoint a new state president from the other backward castes (OBC), said sources, to strengthen its base among the aommunity. The state BJP president Nitin Gadkari's term will expire in December and the party, keen to appoint his successor from the OBC, is testing names like Prakash Shendge for the post.
According to BJP's national spokesperson Prakash Javdekar, a majority if the party's cadres are from the OBC across the country and the party needs to pay more attention towards the community.
"The BJP spread its wings in Maharashtra only after it introduced OBC leaders like Gopinath Munde and Anna Dange," a BJP official said. "The party had adopted a formula popularly known as Madhav (an acronym symbol for three communities -- Mali, Dhangar and Vanjari) and encouraged the workers from these communities to join BJP and take the mantle of the party," he said.
Ironically, for the first time, the newly constituted state assembly also has more than 70 members from the OBC community. Also, the community's share in the electorate is a good 27%.
However, other sections of the party think that they need a good organiser irrespective of his caste. "We need a person who can keep the party united. Of course, the person needs to have good rapport with the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) too. It is possible that the new state president could be from the rural areas," the official said.
