Rajasthan BJP announces 11 district presidents

Rajasthan state BJP president Arun Chaturvedi has finally managed to announce the names of 11 district presidents. However, leaving out six districts which are home turf to former chief minister Vasundhara Raje and senior leaders of her camp, is a clear indication that all is still not well within the state BJP. The crucial budget session is round the corner but far from deciding a name to lead them in the state assembly to take on the ruling Congress; senior BJP leaders have not been able to even decide the names of district presidents after spending hours in several meetings of the core committee.
Chaturvedi declared names of districts presidents for Barmer, Sirohi, Jalore, Pratapgarh, Chittorgarh, Ajmer City, Bharatpur, Karauli, Sawai Madhopur and Nagaur on Friday. But, the senior leaders seemed to have failed to arrive on a consensus to decide the names of district presidents for Jhalawar, Dholpur, Churu, Kota rural, Bhilwara and Pali.
Jhalawar and Dholpur are Raje's home turf, Churu, Kota rural and Bhilwara are important for Rajendra Singh Rathore, Bhawani Singh Rajawat and V P Singh. All three are very close to Raje. Pali on the other hand is home of former state president and OP Mathur who is now Rajya Sabha MP. Once a rival, Mathur of late has joined hands with Raje against Chaturvedi who is backed by leaders who owe their loyalty to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and party organisation. However, Chaturvedi denied that there were differences among the senior leaders. "Appointments on party posts are done through a process, which involves consultation with everyone; if the process takes long that doesn't mean there is a hurdle or disagreement," he said.