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BJP might install southerner as party president

The Bharatiya Janata Party, now on an expansionist drive south of the Vindhyas, is likely to elect a leader from the south as its next president.

So far all the past presidents of the erstwhile Jan Sangh and the BJP had been from the north.

The present tenure of two years of Kushabhau Thakre will end in May. As Thakre has expressed his inability to shoulder the burden any longer on health grounds, a new president will be elected in May (according to the existing rules, the president's term is for two terms of two years each). Before that the party elections from the district level to the state level will have to be completed.

The national executive meeting at Madras on December 27 will decide whether to continue with the enrolment drive or not. Normally, 20 per cent new members are to be enrolled before the electoral college is constituted to elect the new president. Since the present executive has completed its two-year term, a new executive has to be elected as per the constitution of the party.

The BJP's senior vice-president Jana Krishnamurthy will present his proposals on constitutional amendments to the party president by the end of this month. Thakre will place the suggestions for approval before the executive. These will be finally ratified by the national council meeting at the same venue.

The new constitution will come into force from the beginning of the new year and with that the process of presidential elections will begin.

The BJP, which has for long been identified as a party of the Hindi belt, wants to shed this image. That is the reason why it is considering installing a southerner as its president for the first time. Among other names, that of Jana Krishnamurthy figures prominently.

Senior functionaries dismiss as irrelevant the ''handicap'' of this senior vice-president -- that he is not fluent in Hindi. ''With his broken Hindi, he has been addressing party workers,'' one leader pointed out. With a little bit more of practice, he could address public meetings as well.

Another person from south is party general secretary M Venkaiah Naidu. ''But he is too young for such a post,'' observed a senior leader. Naidu, however, speaks fluent Hindi, they admit.

UNI

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