Amit Shah to meet state leaders on Wednesday

The BJP is set to kick in its organisational elections, which may culminate in the election of its president Amit Shah's successor, in a meeting he will hold with the chiefs and general secretaries of the party's state units on Thursday.

Party sources said the meeting will decide on the schedule for organisational elections in its units, from booth-level upwards, and membership drive, a customary exercise during the internal polls.

A party leader said it may take several months before the organisational polls are over.

A new party president can be elected only after the process is over, he said, adding that it may stretch till October-November.

Though the party's parliamentary board, its apex decision-making body, can appoint a new president during this period, the leader added, noting that it will mostly depend on how Shah, who is now home minister at the Centre, will like the exercise to continue.

With assembly polls in three BJP-ruled states- Haryana, Jharkhand and Maharashtra- due later this year, the party may like him to continue with the responsibility, the sources said.

The BJP's national office bearers will join the meeting on Thursday with state leaders.

A meeting of Shah with general secretaries (organisation) of states is also scheduled for Friday.

After the party chief, general secretary in charge of the organisation is the second most crucial position in the BJP, be it at the state or the national level.

Shah, whose three-year term as BJP chief had ended earlier this year, was asked to continue in the position as the party had put on hold organisational elections to focus on Lok Sabha polls.

With the party notching up an unprecedented victory in the general election, bagging 303 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha, Shah has moved on to preparing the organisation for assembly polls in three states and laying the groundwork for its internal elections.

He had on June 9 held separate meetings with core groups of party units in Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Haryana to deliberate on the BJP's strategy in these assembly poll-bound states.