Amit Shah, JP Nadda to monitor preparation for state elections

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

BJP is leaving no stone unturned for the upcoming assembly polls in various states as Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP chief JP Nadda are going to monitor the preparations in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Rajasthan and Telangana. They are also expected to visit these states every week till the announcement of polls, sources said.

Despite the BJP appointing nine leaders, including four Union ministers — Bhupender Yadav and Ashwini Vaishnaw for Madhya Pradesh, Om Mathur and Mansukh Mandaviya for Chattisgarh, Pralhad Joshi, Nitin Patel and Kuldeep Bishnoi for Rajasthan and Prakash Javadekar and Sunil Bansal for Telangana, Shah and Nadda will themselves oversee the preparations. Though both the leaders will look after the party's preparations in all states — Shah will broadly focus more on Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh, while Nadda on Rajasthan and Telangana.

Sources said the BJP has in a way put all its hands on deck by deploying its top leaders to put up a good show in these polls. In the last few weeks, Shah has visited Bhopal and Raipur several times and held meetings till late in the night.

Assembly polls in all these four states are due at the end of the year, with the BJP ruling only in Madhya Pradesh out of these four states. Barring MP where Shivraj Singh Chouhan is serving his fourth term, it is unlikely that the BJP will project anyone as the party's face ahead of these assembly polls.

However, sources said in case of Rajasthan, where a question always looms large whether former Vasundhara Raje Scindia will be appointed as chief ministerial face, a final call can be taken later. In the aftermath of the BJP's drubbing in Karnataka assembly polls and formation of 'INDIA' an alliance of opposition