JOIN USRajnath Singh was Wednesday unanimously elected the new president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), succeeding Nitin Gadkari who decided against a second term till he was cleared of alleged corruption charges.
Rajnath Singh will serve his term from 2013 to 2015, and lead the party in the 2014 general elections.
A resolution supporting Rajnath Singh as the BJP chief was unanimously adopted by the parliamentary board of the party, after which he filed his nomination papers.
The returning officer announced that 17 other nominations were also filed in Rajnath Singh's favour.
Rajnath Singh has previously been the president of the party from 2005 to 2009. He first became the party president in December 2005, following the resignation of L.K. Advani.
He was re-elected in November 2006 unanimously and was succeeded by Nitin Gadkari in 2009.
He also served as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh from October 2000 to March 2002.
Rajnath Singh's name was zeroed upon for the post of party president Tuesday evening, following Income Tax 'surveys' of around nine locations connected to alleged financial wrongdoing by a company linked to Gadkari.
According to informed sources, several senior leaders, including BJP veteran L.K. Advani, had reservations on Gadkari getting a second term in view of allegations surrounding the Purti group linked to him.
Gadkari, meanwhile, said he voluntarily backed out from going for a second term as he wanted his name cleared of the allegations.