There were indications yesterday from the BJP's national executive that Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh would be shifted to the Centre, perhaps next week, but would have a say in the selection of his successor. The state unit's warring leaders were asked to sort out the matter themselves or accept the central leadership's decision.
During the discussion late on Wednesday evening on the party's poor performance in Uttar Pradesh, party vice-president Jana Krishnamurthy made the point that the party's leaders in the state should sort it out or else together accept the central leadership's verdict.
Kalyan Singh was earlier asked if he wanted to add anything to state unit president Rajnath Singh's report but the Chief Minister demurred. He had evidently been asked during meetings with home minister LK Advani in the days preceding this meeting, the first since the Lok Sabha elections, to hold his peace.
The Chief Minister and the state unit chief have been openly battling each other for quite some time now. Kalyan Singh has also antagonised other senior leaders such as Kalraj Mishra and Lalji Tandon. The suggestion that the state unit sort out the matter indicates that his antagonists will be asked to persuade Kalyan Singh to accept their nominee for the job. There was pressure from the floor, party spokesperson M Venkaiah Naidu said, for "corrective steps" at various levels. p parties
