Contenders For Next BJP President Post

The Bharatiya Janata Party's national parliamentary board recently extended the tenure of Health Minister JP Nadda as BJP president until January 2025. The party has a rule of one person, one post which is usually followed but has been changed at various points in time. The last time the rule was amended was in 2019 when then BJP National President Mr. Amit Shah was made the Union Home Minister. Reports in the media also point out that BJP may appoint its working president after the elections in Maharashtra, Haryana, Jharkhand & Jammu-Kashmir. The working president would eventually take over as the BJP president in the year 2025 when Mr. JP Nadda's second tenure as party president ends. Netizens and supporters of the party are also voicing their opinions on who may get the top post.

Here are the 5 possible contenders for the post: 

1. Shivraj Singh Chouhan: Shri. Shivraj Singh Chouhan, also affectionately referred to as Mama in political circles, is one of the frontrunners to be the next president of India's ruling party. Mr. Chouhan is an experienced administrator who is currently serving as agricultural minister but has been one of India's longest-serving chief ministers, having governed MP for 2 decades. He has recently been appointed as the in-charge of the party in the Jharkhand assembly election, which makes him a strong contender for the post. Given his political & administrative experience, it makes "Mama" one of the top contenders for the president post. His appointment would be significant as his pro-farmer image can help the national party across the nation. 

2. Om Prakash Mathur: Shri. Om Prakash Mathur is another leading contender for the post of BJP party president. Mr. Mathur hails from the politically crucial Rajasthan state where the BJP-led NDA underperformed in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, where it couldn't win 25/25 seats for a third straight time. Mr. Mathur is an experienced politician who has handled various electoral campaigns for BJP in Maharashtra 2014 elections, Uttar Pradesh 2022 elections & Chhattisgarh 2023 elections. He last served as a Rajya Sabha member until 2022. 

3. Radha Mohan Singh: Shri. Radha Mohan Singh is a contender for the post of BJP party president. He hails from the politically important state of Bihar, where the assembly elections are due in the year 2025. He is currently serving as a BJP national vice president. Mr. Radha Mohan Singh served as Union Agriculture Minister in the first Modi cabinet. He has served as the state unit chief of Bihar BJP and has been a member of parliament from East Champaran for 7 terms, having first been elected in 1989. He has also served as election in-charge for India's ruling party in various states like Uttarakhand and Karnataka, to name a few. His political experience along with the above-mentioned factors make him a possible contender for the top post. 

4. Renuka Saruta: Smt. Renuka Saruta is a less talked about contender for the post of BJP party president. Mrs. Renuka Saruta hails from Chhattisgarh, where BJP has recently formed its government. She has been a three-term MLA & a union minister of state in Modi 2.0 cabinet. Her being a tribal woman face can possibly add up to significant political outreach by BJP in tribal-dominated states like Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, North East India where the population of tribals is electorally significant. 

These are some of the names that can be frontrunners for the post of BJP president, but there can be other names as reported by various sections of media, like Smt. Smriti Irani, Shri Anurag Thakur, Shri. Vinod Tawde, Shri. Devendra Fadnavis, Shri. Sunil Bansal among others. Who takes over the politically important position of BJP national president will only be known in 2025; until then, it would be Mr. JP Nadda who would be handling the affairs of India's largest political party.

About the Author: Srikar Srivatsa Dahagam is a recent graduate of BSc. Economics (Honours) from SSE, Pune and is an incoming student for MA International Relations at the Graduate Institute of International & Development Studies, Geneva. He has varied work experience with institutions like Indian Business Council, IIM-Sirmaur, CHSS, UNCTAD to name a few. He is interested in economics, public finance, and geopolitics.