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Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Home Minister Amit Shah (Representative Image)
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is set to select its Chief Ministers for the key states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh, keeping in view the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
There is a high possibility of new faces being appointed in all three states, NDTV reported citing sources.
The BJO emerged victorious in the Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh, with the results announced on Sunday.
The party's central command is currently deliberating over potential Chief Minister candidates for these three states.
Yesterday, a meeting that lasted four and a half hours took place at the residence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The key contenders from three states were discussed during this meeting.
The marathon meeting followed a string of meetings that Shah and Nadda had convened with the BJP's in-charges from these states in a bid to collect feedback on the state leaders.
The central leadership of the BJP is expected to appoint observers to the three states soon. The role of these observers will be to oversee meetings of newly elected MLAs in the three states to elect their leaders in the Assembly.
In Madhya Pradesh, the current Chief Minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, is a contender for the top post. He faces competition from Union ministers Prahlad Patel, Jyotiraditya Scindia, and Narendra Singh Tomar, as well as from the senior state leader, Kailash Vijayvargiya.
Multiple candidates are being considered for the leading position in Rajasthan. These include former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, who has been elected as an MLA, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Union Ministers Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Arjun Ram Meghwal, state party president C P Joshi, and notable leaders Diya Kumari and Mahant Balaknath.
Ex-chief minister Raman Singh is one of the potential candidates in Chhattisgarh. Other notable contenders for the Chief Minister position include State BJP president Arun Kumar Sao, opposition leader Dharamlal Kaushik, and ex-IAS officer O P Chaudhary.
However, it's important to note that the BJP leadership has a reputation for springing a surprise with their selections.