BJP appoints observers to elect legislature party leaders

New Delhi, Jan 3 (IANS) The BJP on Thursday appointed three Union Ministers -- Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley and Thawarchand Gehlot -- and as many senior party leaders as observers to elect legislature party leaders in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.

The decision was taken here at a meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Parliamentary Board, attended among others by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party President Amit Shah.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh, along with party Vice President Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, has been assigned the task to elect the legislature party leader in Madhya Pradesh.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and party leader Avinash Rai Khanna will be observers in Rajasthan, while Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Gehlot along with party General Secretary Anil Jain has been appointed as observers for Chhattisgarh.

The observers would visit the states in a day or two and finalise the legislature party leaders after consulting the MLAs.

The BJP was routed in Chhattisgarh and defeated in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh in closely-fought contests. The party had mostly banked on the image of Chief Ministers Raman Singh, Vasundhara Raje and Shivraj Singh Chouhan to lift the party's fortunes.

The appointments in the three states is important in view of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls later this year.