Narottam-Amit Shah meeting fuels speculation on new state BJP chief

Bhopal: Former state home minister Narottam Mishra met Union home minister Amit Shah at the chief minister's residence in Bhopal on Sunday, sparking speculation that he may be given a major responsibility.

Shah, who is also the Union minister for cooperatives, was in Bhopal on Sunday for the signing of an agreement between dairy unions of Madhya Pradesh and National Dairy Development Board.

During lunch at CM House, Mishra was seen having a conversation with Shah. Sources said they had a second, longer meeting later.

When TOI contacted Mishra on this, he only said, "I was called to the lunch hosted by the chief minister." He refused to divulge any further details.

Mishra is one of the state BJP functionaries perceived to be close to Shah. So is minister for urban administration Kailash Vijayvargiya.

On Feb 25, after Shah gave the valedictory speech at the Global Investors' Summit in Bhopal, he was at the state hangar to leave for New Delhi when he placed a call to Vijayvargiya who was then on his way to Ujjain to attend a wedding.

Vijayvargiya immediately turned around and headed for the hangar. Shah and Vijayvargiya spoke for more than half-an-hour. That meeting, too, had sparked a buzz in political circles.

BJP has not been able to decide on a state president to replace Khajuraho MP VD Sharma, who has completed over five years as state party chief.

MP BJP organisational elections, from the booths to districts, were over in Jan this year, but when it comes to declaring the next state president, the ruling party seems undecided. The party had earlier said a new state president would be elected by Feb first week.

After Shah's meeting with Vijayvargiya, there was intense speculation on whether he could be made the next state BJP president. More than six weeks have since passed. Now, there is another round of speculation.

Both Vijayvargiya and Mishra have been in the race for state president from the start.

Sources said caste could be one of the factors for the uncertainty in choosing the next state party chief.

BJP continues with its preference for an OBC chief minister — as is the norm since it came to power in MP in Dec 2003 with Uma Bharti, Babulal Gaur, Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Mohan Yadav getting the top job.

The ruling party could be looking for a Scheduled Caste or a tribal face to lead the organization in MP, say sources. Whoever is appointed state president now will have to bear the responsibility of leading the organization into the 2028 assembly election. Therefore, competence is of utmost importance.

Mishra, a Brahmin, was cabinet minister for two decades, holding important portfolios like health, water resources, home and legislative affairs. He lost the 2023 assembly election from Datia constituency against Congress' Rajendra Bharti by 7,742 votes and has been waiting in the wings since then.