I have been denied nomination by the party: Mahesh Jethmalani to NDTV

Mumbai: Just when it looked like Nitin Gadkari was set for an unprecedented second term as the president of the main opposition party, the BJP,  the final stretch is proving to be more challenging than expected.

The main impediment for Mr Gadkari is the scaling up this week of an income tax investigation for the Purti Group, a business empire he helped found in 2000. The BJP's ideological mentor, the RSS,  which was firm till earlier this week that it would support only Mr Gadkari, is now reportedly rethinking its decision. And BJP leaders like Rajnath Singh and Yashwant Sinha may emerge as options. 

Mahesh Jethmalani, a lawyer and dissident within the BJP, says he would like to put up a "token contest" against Mr Gadkari, but has been told he does not qualify.

Candidates must file their nominations by tomorrow.  

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Mr Jethmalani said today that the party refused him a  nomination form."Initially I was told that my name should be proposed by 20 people ...but now I have been told that it should be 100 people," he said, "this is not how democracies function."

Senior  BJP leaders are worried about the wisdom of picking a leader who is tainted by allegations of graft  so close to the general elections scheduled for next year.  

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Today, tax officials visited eight locations in Mumbai linked to Purti, a follow up to earlier searches.   The politician had been summoned to meet with tax officials this week, but asked yesterday for an extension till February 1, claiming that he is preoccupied with his party.  (Read)

In 2009, it was the RSS that over-rode objections by BJP leaders like LK Advani to install Mr Gadkari, who is not a member of parliament, as president.  This time around, it shot down Mr ADvani's suggestion to consider other leaders like Sushma Swaraj or Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi for the party's top job.

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