Rajnath, Jaitley BJP observers for election of legislature party leaders in MP, Rajasthan

The BJP parliamentary board Thursday appointed central observers, including union ministers Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley and Thawarchand Gehlot, for the election of leaders of its legislature party in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.

In the meeting attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah besides other top leaders, the board selected Singh and Vinay Sahasrabuddhe for Madhya Pradesh, Jaitley and Avinash Rai Khanna for Rajasthan, and Gehlot and Anil Jain for Chhattisgarh, senior party leader J P Nadda told reporters.

Sahasrabuddhe, Khanna and Jain are also party in-charges for their respective states.

The party lost the assembly elections in the three states to the Congress last month.

Dates for the legislature party meetings in the states will be decided later, Nadda added.

Party sources added that the leaders also deliberated on the current political issues and added that the appointment of observers was the main agenda.

Former Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh chief ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Raman Singh, both of whom were at the helm in their states for three consecutive terms, and former Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje were elected as MLA during the assembly polls last month.

The BJP sources said the leadership may go for new faces in some of these states but former chief ministers will continue to play a key role as the party works to change its fortunes there during the Lok Sabha polls, which are expected to be over by May.