New Delhi, Nov 26: Rajnath Singh was today re-elected as BJP chief for a full term until 2008 with no challenge to his candidacy for the top post in the party.
Vajpayee and senior BJP leader L K Advani proposed
Singh`s candidacy, praising his leadership skills and wishing
him a glorious second innings in the job.
The BJP chief filed his nomination with returning
officer O P Kohli at the party headquarters here.
Kohli received 15 other nominations all in support of
Singh. One of them came from the national executive members of
the BJP parliamentary party led by Vajpayee.
"His (Singh`s) first innings got over successfully.
His second innings will be more glorious. The party`s future
is bright in his hands. We pledge full support to him,"
Vajpayee said.
Singh, 55, became head of the saffron party last year
from Advani, who was virtually forced by the Sangh to quit in
the wake of the Jinnah row.
His interim one-year term passed through a series of
crises, ranging from expulsion of several senior leaders to
the party losing power in Jharkhand.
But both Vajpayee and Advani, who is understood to
have been upset with Singh for allowing the RSS a greater role
in the organisation, heaped praise on him for the party`s
success in civic elections in Uttar Pradesh and Assembly and
Lok Sabha by-elections in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh.
Advani said he believed the BJP would be successful in
the upcoming Assembly elections under Singh`s leadership.
Singh, Vajpayee and Advani arrived at the party`s
headquarters to a tumultuous welcome, with drumbeats thudding
across and activists setting off fireworks.
In his comments after his re-election to the post,
Singh said he would steadfastly stick to his style of
functioning.
A staunch proponent of the RSS` core Hindutva
ideology, Singh insisted that the BJP is rapidly regaining
public trust.
"Common people are increasingly reposing their trust
in the party," he said, citing the BJP`s spectacular showing
in recent civic elections in Uttar Pradesh and in assembly and
Lok Sabha by-elections in Madhya Pradesh and Bihar.
The BJP chief, who has ruled out support to any other
party to form government in Uttar Pradesh and has instead said
the BJP would rather prefer to lead a coalition there, claimed
his party would win power in the key state.
He, however, maintained that the party was required to
stick to its principles in order to win public support.
"Some may find our style of functioning to be awkward.
But there is a set pattern in which the party has to work. I
cannot give it up," he said when asked about his views on
differences within the organisation.
The BJP chief also announced the party`s plans to hold
a public rally in Lucknow on December 24, which he said would
be addressed by Vajpayee to launch election campaign for Uttar
Pradesh Assembly elections.
He, however, paused for a while when asked whom the
BJP would project its prime ministerial candidate for general
elections. "... Lok Sabha elections are far away... Both
Vajpayee and Advani are there. They are our leaders...," he
remarked.
Singh`s re-election as BJP President had become
certain in September itself when Vajpayee praised him for his
leadership skills during the party`s national executive in
Dehradun.
The BJP`s presidential election was a mere formality
as returning officer Kohli declared Singh elected to the post
unopposed with nobody else filing nominations as a rival
candidate.
Born in 1951 in a village in Varanasi district, Singh
has been associated with the RSS since 1964 in different
positions in Uttar Pradesh.
Singh became Education Minister of Uttar Pradesh in
1991 when the BJP won power in the key state for the first
time.
He was sworn in as Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister in
2000 and became Agriculture Minister at the Centre in 2003
when the NDA was in power. He was nominated to the Rajya Sabha
for a third time in 2002.
Bureau Report
