Tomar is regarded as a master strategist and planner. It was under his stewardship that the BJP emerged victorious in the Assembly elections held in 2008 and 2013. It took about three months for the party High Command to make a final decision about Tomar's replacement.

From the beginning, Nand Kumar Chauhan was the Chief Minister's only choice. But the central leadership was reluctant to appoint Nand Kumar Chauhan as Tomar's successor. Chief Minister's adversaries in the party were hopeful that Prime Minister Narendra Modi may not appoint Shivraj Singh's nominee as the new president because that may make Shivraj more powerful. But the Chief Minister continued to push Nand Kumar Chauhan's name.

The Chief Minister, it seems, has not forgotten the bitter experience which he had during Prabhat Jha's tenure as president of the State BJP. From the day one, Jha started behaving as a rival to Chauhan. Shivraj Singh had to make a major effort to prevent Jha from getting another term on the eve of the Assembly polls in the State in November 2013.

Though the Chief Minister continued to assure Jha that he would continue as the president after the expiry of his first term, but finally he succeeded in ensuring that Jha was dropped and Tomar was made the chief of the state party. On denial of another term, Jha publicity expressed his indignation. He termed it as a stab in the back. He said that decision to deny another term to him was kept secret as the Pokhran atomic test. Later, in order to assuage him, he was accommodated in the central party team as one of the vice-presidents.

Though the issue relating to the appointment of the state president has been resolved amicably, both the central and state leadership are facing revolt by a very senior leader of the state who perhaps thought that he may be chosen as the state president or may get prime place at the centre including a ministerial berth in the Modi ministry.

Faggan Singh Kulaste, a veteran tribal Member of Parliament is in an angry mood. When he came to know that he has been again named as the national chief of the scheduled tribes cell of the Bharatiya Janata Party, he reacted adversely and said the party leadership was consistently ignoring him and had failed to reward him for the valuable services rendered by him. While refusing to take the charge of the chief of scheduled tribe cell of the party he stated that this time he had warned the leadership that he would not accept the same assignment.

He said 'Narendra Modi has become Prime Minister from Chief Minister of Gujarat but I have remained where I was'. He also pointed out that according to the BJP constitution, the same person cannot be appointed again as the chief of a party cell. Obviously he was hopeful of getting ministerial post or a high position in the party. It may be mentioned here that Kulaste came into limelight when his name figured in the cash-for-vote scam. Kulaste is a very senior leader of the BJP and being tribal, he enjoys a unique place in the party.

The State BJP Government was plunged in a serious controversy when it took the extraordinary decision to grant extension to state Lokayukta PP Naolekar. The decision has evoked sharp reaction in the political circles of the state. Lokayukta is a constitutional post. The tenure of the Lokayukta is fixed and can't be extended arbitrarily. The most surprising aspect of this decision is that the extension has been given despite the fact that Naolekar still has a year to go before his current term expires. The leader of opposition Satyadev Katare has alleged that extension has been given with the sole objective to gain his favour. He claimed that serious complaints again the Chief Minister and nine ministers were pending with the Lokayukta.

Addressing a press conference Katare released the list of nine ministers against whom complaints are pending with the Lokayukta. According to the Act, the leader of the opposition must be consulted before choosing a new Lokayukta. The grant of extension is almost like a new appointment and thus the chief minister should have consulted him before extending Naolekar's term. On being contacted Faizanuddin, a former Lokayukta told this reporter that though the government has legal right to extend term of the Lokayukta, morally it was not correct. In fact Naolekar should have himself declined the extension.

On August 21, three State Vidhan Sabha constituencies went to the polls. Among the three, there is one such constituency whose voters will have choice to reject or to elect a rank defector. His name is Sanjay Pathak. In the 2013 elections, he was elected on the Congress ticket. But on the eve of the last Lok Sabha elections, he resigned from the Congress to join the BJP. Now the BJP has sponsored this defector as its candidate. Sanjay Pathak is a mining baron. Since he was facing some problems from the government, he decided to desert the Congress and joined the BJP. It has to be seen whether the voters of Vijayraghogarh rejects the defector or approves his act of political immorality. (IPA Service)