Bhopal, July 2 -- Notwithstanding the BJP's repeated claims of giving prominence to its tribal, Scheduled Caste, and women leaders, the saffron party stuck to its tradition of having an upper caste state party president in Madhya Pradesh, as Betul MLA Hemant Khandelwal was today formally declared the state unit head.
Khandelwal, a Vaishya by caste, is the sixth consecutive upper caste BJP chief in MP since 2006.
Outgoing state president Vishnu Dutt Sharma is a Brahmin. He had two back-to-back terms from 2020 onwards.
Before him, a Thakur, Rakesh Singh, was the MP BJP Chief from 2018 to 2020.
Former Lok Sabha MP from Khandwa, late Nandkumar Singh Chauhan, was state president from 2014 to 2018. He was also a Thakur.
Narendra Singh Tomar,...