President accepts resignation of 3 Ministers who are MLAs now

With all eyes on the party’s choices for the chief ministerial posts in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, the BJP is expected to announce the names of observers to the three states by Friday, sources in the party say.

The party is tongue-tied on its choices for the posts, and party leaders and members in the states are also clueless about who would find favour with the top leadership.

Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje was in Delhi Thursday where she met party chief JP Nadda. Newly-elected BJP MLAs were already queuing up in Jaipur to meet her after the results were announced. While there was buzz that she hosted a dinner for MLAs Monday night, people close to her said no dinner was hospted, and that it was just that 28 MLAs individually met her at different times of the day.

MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has begun to tour parts of the state where the BJP, which won a landslide victory in the state, did not do well, purportedly to ‘ensure’ a landslide victory for the party in the state in the Lok Sabha polls. Chouhan was in Sheopur in the Chambal region – where the BJP lost two seats – Thursday, and will be in Raghogarh town near Guna Friday, to interact with people in the constituency that Digvijaya Singh’s son won for the Congress. On Wednesday, Chouhan was interacting with people in Chhindwara, where the BJP lost seven seats.

In Chhattisgarh, many theories are floating around in political circles, as political leaders and observers are clueless about the BJP’s choice for the CM’s post. There was buzz that members of the Sahu OBC association (samaj) had written to the BJP leadership to make Arun Sao the CM, and that there were those who were ganging up against Renuka Singh, quietly spreading word that she ‘would not be a good choice’. Security had been increased outside the residence of Renuka Singh, a tribal leader, sparking speculation that she could be the party’s choice.