BJP springs surprise yet again, R’sthan MP CP Joshi made state party president

Jaipur, March 23 (IANS) The saffron party, known for springing surprises during elections, has done it once again by changing the Rajasthan Bharatiya Janata Party president just eight months before elections.

Chittorgarh Member of Parliament CP Joshi has been made the new state unit president in place of Satish Poonia who has completed his three-year tenure. Party leaders had been announcing that Poonia would continue to hold the responsibility of the state president till the assembly elections to be held later this year.

The party officials announced the change in the morning.

CP Joshi, who started his political career with the ABVP, is considered close to the Sangh. Satish Poonia also comes from an RSS background.

A letter regarding the appointment of Joshi was issued by the BJP state in-charge Arun Singh.

Sources said that Poonia might get the rank of Leader of the Opposition which is lying vacant after Gulab Chand Kataria was appointed Assam Governor.

CP Joshi is Lok Sabha MP from Chittorgarh twice. He won the election from this seat first in 2014 and again in 2019. In the 2014 general elections, he defeated senior Congress leader Girija Vyas. Joshi has been the state president of the BJP’s youth wing, BJYM. He will be the 15th president of the Rajasthan BJP and the 7th Brahmin president. Earlier, Harishankar Bhabhada, Bhanwarlal Sharma, Lalit Kishore Chaturvedi, Mahesh Chandra Sharma, Raghuveer Singh Kaushal and Arun Chaturvedi have been the Brahmin presidents.

Satish Poonia took over as the BJP state president on September 15, 2019. Poonia remained on this post for three and a half years. The BJP has surprised many times by giving new faces a chance as state president. During the BJP rule Madan Lal Saini was made the state president in place of Ashok Parnami in an election year. After the death of Saini, Satish Poonia was given the responsibility of state president.

Poonia meanwhile changed his bio-data on social media. He has removed BJP state president from his profile intro on social media handles and introduced himself as MLA Amer.

A few days back in Parliament Joshi called President Droupadi Murmu as Shabri and Prime Minister Narendra Modi as Ram.

During the debate on the President’s address in Parliament, CP Joshi had referred to President Murmu as Shabri and PM Narendra Modi as Ram. Praising the PM’s work, Joshi had said, ‘Mata Shabri was eager to welcome Shri Ram in Treta Yug. Today let us talk about the joint session. When the President was entering the Parliament today, it seemed as if Shabri was welcoming Shri Ram in Treta Yug. Right now it seemed as if Shri Ram was standing at the door of the Parliament to welcome Shabri. One Narendra was the one who said, don’t stop till the goal is achieved. There is one Narendra, who has set out for the service of the country by adopting the principle of moving ahead continuously.”