25.1.16

Amit Shah re-elected as BJP Chief


Amit Shah, who was serving the remainder of Rajnath Singh's term as BJP president, got elected formally to the top post for a full three-year term on Sunday , but the fissures within the party were visible as veterans like LK Advani and MM Joshi kept away from the felicitation ceremony .
BJP V-P AR Khanna, who was the returning officer for the election, declared Shah elected unopposed on Sunday . He will be in the saddle till January 2019. Shah had taken over as BJP chief on July 9, 2014, replacing Singh who quit the post after becoming the home minister.
The party went through the process -which were a mere formality -of electing its president, with 20 BJP state units submitting 17 nominations in favour of Shah .Prime Minister Narendra Modi, union ministers Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Manohar Parrikar, Venkaiah Naidu and Nitin Gadkari, as well as chief ministers of BJP-ruled states were among those who signed the nomination papers supporting Shah.
BJP Parliamentary Board will meet on January 28 to formally endorse Shah as the party chief. At 51, he is one of the youngest leaders to have taken over as a full-term party president. Modi had prevailed over the RSS to give Shah a full term. In lieu of this, Shah will have to make changes in his team of office-bearers and accommodate RSS choices, sources said. Since his term will expire in January 2019, Shah is likely to continue till the Lok Sabha polls and hence will have an important role in Modi's re-election test.

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