New Delhi, Sept. 5: Attempts have started to build a consensus on Manohar Parrikar as the next BJP president once Rajnath Singh’s term ends in December.

BJP and RSS sources confirmed that at a three-day meeting the Sangh brass had from September 1 in a hermitage off Hardwar, three names were shortlisted: Shivraj Singh Chauhan, Narendra Modi and Parrikar.

Parrikar, a former chief minister of Goa, is understood to have emerged as the first choice.

Chauhan apparently is reluctant to move out of Madhya Pradesh where he is serving a second term as chief minister, although he was rated the “most competent” organisational hand and team leader.

Modi came out top on the ideology quotient, but doubts were voiced on his ability to carry his colleagues along at this “most critical juncture” when it is imperative for the BJP to leave its factional wars behind.

By a process of elimination, Parrikar emerged as the Sangh’s candidate, although nobody who took his name was sure if he would be backed by those who “mattered” in the BJP.

If elected, Parrikar, 54, is expected to carry forward the process of “generational change” the Sangh had ushered in when it endorsed the names of Arun Jaitley as the leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and Sushma Swaraj as the deputy leader in the Lok Sabha.

Parrikar fulfils the RSS wishlist for Rajnath’s successor — strong on ideology, committed to its “work culture” and a person who combines “integrity with dynamism”.

However, sources said, a major reason for picking someone from outside the current crop of central leaders was to ensure that the nominee did not come with a “larger-than-life” persona that made him a first among equals in the BJP and derailed the methodology of collective decision-making and decentralisation.

Sources recalled that the RSS had made sure that the president of the Jana Sangh was mostly a notional head who would not craft policies and take decisions autonomously without consulting his team. The general secretary in charge of the organisation was more powerful than the president because he was the bridge between the party and the RSS in an era when the latter’s authority was unquestioned.

With the emergence of L.K. Advani, the power centre shifted towards the president. As the Sangh’s sway over the BJP diminished, the organising secretary’s post became virtually irrelevant.

It is believed that in choosing someone like Parrikar, the Sangh wants to reassert its supremacy over the BJP and revive the importance of the organising secretary.