BJP names observers for Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh

New Delhi: BJP on Friday named observers for Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan ahead of selection of CMs for these states.

For Rajasthan, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Vinod Tawade and Saroj Pandey would be sent as central observers.

Also read: Rajasthan CM race: Vasundhara Raje to trump all other names

Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar, K Laxman and Asha Lakra have been named as observers for Madhya Pradesh.

For Chhattisgarh, the central observers are Union Ministers Arjun Munda and Sarbananda Sonowal and Dushyant Gautam.

Leaders from the three states have been meeting the top party brass, including Home Minister Amit Shah and party president J P Nadda, but sources played down their significance, saying such meetings are routine.

Former Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje, whose meeting with many newly-elected MLAs have raised a few eyebrows, met Nadda in the national capital on Thursday.

Narendra Singh Tomar, a seasoned BJP leader from Madhya Pradesh whose resignation as Union minister was accepted on Thursday, and Baba Balaknath, who is from Rajasthan, met Shah on Thursday. Both quit Lok Sabha after becoming members of assemblies of their states.

Tomar and Union minister Prahlad Singh Patel, who comes from politically significant Other Backward Classes, are seen as possible chief ministerial choices in Madhya Pradesh along with the incumbent Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

If Raje's meetings with MLAs have been seen by some observers as her show of strength, Chouhan's political tours in his home them are being viewed as the OBC leader's assertion of his political heft amid a view that the party is considering new faces as chief ministers in three states.

Patel and Tomar are among 12 BJP MPs who have been elected to three state assemblies and have quit their parliamentary memberships.

Chhattisgarh BJP president Arun Sao, an OBC leader, Union minister Gomati Sai and Lata Usendi, both of whom come from Scheduled Tribes, are seen as serious contenders for the top seat in the state due to their social background, image and relatively young profile.