New Delhi, January 22
Rajnath Singh tonight emerged as the consensus candidate to be the next president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with incumbent Nitin Gadkari opting out from seeking a second term.

The BJP Parliamentary Board is scheduled to meet tomorrow morning where Rajnath Singh’s name will be cleared and nomination papers will be filed for the president’s post. The entire process is to culminate tomorrow.

Today evening, senior leaders Arun Jaitely, M Venkaiah Naidu and Sushma Swaraj held a meeting that was attended by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) representative Ram Lal. The sudden turn came about late this evening when senior BJP leaders went into a huddle and arrived at a consensus on Rajnath Singh, who held the post till 2009 before Gadkari stepped in as the chosen one of the RSS.

Gadkari, who has been under attack from within the party after allegations of misdoings by his Purti Group of companies, announced his decision stating that he did not want the investigations to adversely affect the interests of the BJP.

While asserting that he committed no wrong or any impropriety either directly or indirectly, the BJP chief accused the UPA government of making an effort to spread disinformation about him to hurt him and his party and he. had, therefore, decided not to seek a second term.

It all started today when top BJP leaders went into a meeting hours after the Income Tax Department raided Gadkari’s companies. Although a section of the BJP was against Gadkari, it was understood that the RSS favoured his continuation and the party had amended its Constitution late last year to facilitate a second term for the incumbent.

However, rumblings against Gadkari increased with Mahesh Jethmalani suggesting he wanted to contest and senior leader Yashwant Sinha procuring nomination papers this afternoon.

I had committed no wrong or any impropriety directly or indirectly. Yet the UPA government has been making an effort to spread disinformation about me to hurt me and my party. I have always said that I am willing for any inquiry
— Nitin Gadkari