Looks like the saffron party dumps its incumbent president Nitin Gadkari as Rajnath Singh emerges as the unopposed president of the party on Wednesday (January 23). The party elected the new president with no one else throwing their hats in the rings amidst much speculation. The trusted lieutenant of party senior leader L K Advani emerges as the unopposed leader of the party amidst speculation of various other names.

Rajnath was the immediate choice for the party, in 2005, when the senior quit from active posts citing health reasons. However in reality after attracting the ire of the Sangh Pariwar for his controversial statements in Pakistan earlier that year.

He was at the helm of affairs till 2009 when Gadkari took up the reins. However not all was well for the later when allegations by Congress put him in distress. He was alleged to have made mass financial discrepancies in his persoanl firm for which the Income tax authorities are haunting him down.

In a respite to the allegations, the new president said that the irregularities were a 'false allegations' and the party is sure that the former president would come out of it unscathed. He also ascertained that the party backed him and had full faith in his clean image, which is noteworthy.

The UP leader will now take the party to the nationwide elections scheduled in 2014 for the prime ministerial polls. However as per the self stipulated rule the saffron party might be projecting the Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as the PM candidate for the party. (Wishesh AarKay)