Nitin Nabin and Amit Shah
Credit: @AmitShah/X via PTI Photo
New Delhi: A meeting of the party’s Parliamentary Board a day ahead of the announcement paved the way for Nitin Nabin to be declared as the working president of the party, DH has learnt. In the meeting, held virtually, Nabin’s name was proposed and outgoing president JP Nadda asked the Board’s members if they had any objections. No one had any.
The central leadership had kept the party’s future till 2047 in mind when naming Nabin, who at 45 years is one of the youngest presidents of the party, highly-placed sources said. Incidentally, the BJP, too, is 45 years old.
“The party is cultivating a young section of leadership across states and we are effectively grooming them. If you see our deputy chief ministers in the state, you will see a pattern in action,” a senior party leader said.
The leader added that apart from Nabin a few more names of young leaders were in contention. “But some are needed in their states and some are deputy chief ministers,” said the leader.
Nabin’s imminent ascension as president will take place in January after Sankranti when the inauspicious period of Kharmas ends. The election process is a 22-day process and the list of the electors and voters — the National Council — has been made ready already.
The list will be made public once the elections are announced and a time period of 7 days will be set aside for anyone to object. The Council will convene in January sometime and they hold the power to object to the names of President if the need arises.
Sources also said that Nabin will continue to be a legislator and not become a Parliamentarian. He will join a long list of presidents who will not be parliamentarians. Other such presidents include Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Bangaru Laxman, among others.
Nabin will be the second working president in the history of the party, the other being outgoing president JP Nadda, who had been declared working president when Amit Shah was the president. There is no provision for the position in the party, but it is now seen as the stepping stone for the top job.
For the presidential polls to take place, organisational polls must take place in 19 states. Till now, barring Karnataka, Manipur, Mumbai, Punjab, and Delhi, organisational elections in all states have taken place.