Election for Bihar BJP president deferred indefinitely

"The election for the state BJP president scheduled for January 3-4, will not take place on the scheduled date due to unavoidable reasons," the party's state election official Suresh Rungta said in a release today.

The next date for election of the state BJP president will be announced later, he said.

The postponement of the polls has come as a relief for the current president C P Thakur, whose three-year tenure came to an end last week, party sources said.

A straight forward and plain speaking leader, Thakur was hoping to get a second term as a reward for leading the BJP to a resounding victory in the 2010 Assembly polls in which it had won 91 seats and had a strike rate of over 90 per cent which was even better than that of its ally JD(U).

Of late a number of other BJP leaders including Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Minister Giriraj Singh, a self- confessed supporter of Modi, were seen to be emerging as a challenger to Thakur in leading a frontal attack on JD(U) if the ties between the two allies were severed at some stage.

The BJP leadership has obviously taken time to dwell on various pros and cons of its prospective state unit president in the event of changed political equation in Bihar and the decision will be made accordingly, the party sources said.