Prabhat Jha, Narottam Mishra, Sumitra Mahajan In Line for Next State BJP Chief

With speculations going on about the next state BJP chief, Rajya Sabha MP Prabhat Jha, parliamentary affairs minister Narottam Mishra and Indore MP Sumitra Mahajan are being considered among the contenders for the job, reported PTI citing unnamed party sources.

“Though a number of leaders including parliamentary affairs minister Narottam Mishra, Indore MP Sumitra Mahajan, Sagar MP Bhupendra Singh and former MP Rampal Singh are in the race for the top party post, Jha has emerged as the strongest contender because of his relations with central party leaders and wider acceptability,” a senior State Minister was quoted as saying.

Report further quoted sources as saying that the another thing tilting the scale in Jha’s favour is the fact that neither chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan nor outgoing state BJP chief Narendra Singh Tomar are opposed to him.

They said that Chouhan and Tomar are favouring Jha more as he comes from a camp opposed to the return of Uma Bharati in the party, report said.

Jha had earlier served as the party’s media in-charge.

Report quoted sources as saying that election of next BJP president would not be held before April 21 as party didn’t want to disturb preparations for mobilising support from the state for holding a protest in Delhi on the issue of price rise.