Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah had offered to make Home Minister Rajnath Singh the chief ministerial candidate in Uttar Pradesh, sources said yesterday.
Modi and Shah made the formal offer during the last budget session of parliament, the sources said.
Rajnath Singh, who does not seem to be attracted by the offer, has not officially responded to the party leadership.
The sources spoke amid fresh speculation that Rajnath Singh was likely to be the BJP’s chief ministerial face in Uttar Pradesh where assembly elections are due next year.
“The reports about Rajnath Singh being projected as chief ministerial candidate are not true. In fact, no decision in this regard has been taken yet,” a BJP leader close to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh said on the conditions of anonymity.
The BJP leader, who is also an office bearer in the Uttar Pradesh unit, however, added: “But it is true that Rajnath Singh was offered the party’s chief ministerial candidature a month ago.”
The BJP leadership feels that Rajnath Singh, who was the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh between 2000 and 2002, is still the only reliable face of the party in the state and can give a fight to both Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati and Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav.
Sources close to Rajnath Singh said he was not ready to accept the offer as he was more interested in national politics.
Rajnath Singh said on Friday that reports that he would be the BJP’s chief ministerial candidate in Uttar Pradesh were “fictitious.” He added he would fully back whoever was picked by the BJP for the post.
An aide to Rajnath Singh said the BJP fared poorly in the last three assembly polls despite projecting a chief ministerial candidate - Rajnath Singh in 2002, Kalyan Singh in 2007 and Uma Bharti in 2012.
The BJP leadership will brainstorm here today and tomorrow to decide a strategy that could bring it to power in politically crucial Uttar Pradesh.
The broad idea is to highlight the achievements of Modi’s government in the last two years and the alleged corruption of the Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh.
The BJP’s National Executive will be formally opened by Modi and Shah today, followed by the presidential address.
The two-day conclave is likely to pass political and economic resolutions, the latter focusing on agriculture.
“There is goonda raj in Uttar Pradesh under Akhilesh Yadav. The cocktail politics of Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, Congress and Rashtriya Lok Dal have ruined the state,” BJP national secretary Srikant Sharma said.
“We will be giving a call to end this goonda raj,” he added.
The meeting will also discuss what the BJP says is the deteriorating law and order, corruption and misrule in Uttar Pradesh.
The prime minister will address a Parivartan Rally in Allahabad as soon as the National Executive concludes tomorrow.
The BJP leader said the achievements of the Modi government would be highlighted, with special focus on the economy and agriculture and what Sharma described as the emergence of Modi as a world leader.
The BJP won an incredible 71 of the 80 seats from Uttar Pradesh in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Two seats went to its ally, Apna Dal. The Samajwadi Party could win only five seats while the Congress managed two. The BSP was wiped out.