Hectic lobbying has begun in the state Congress leadership for the Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee (BPCC) chief’s post.

The BPCC had authorised the Congress high command to anoint the new party chief in the state barely a month ago. Sources in the party said the name of the new BPCC chief could be announced either before April 24, when Parliament reassembles for the budget session, or in the last week of May.

“I have already submitted a report to Oscar Fernandes, the chairman of the national Congress election authority. He will try to evolve a consensus before appointing somebody as the next BPCC president,” B.D. Kalla, chairman of the Pradesh Congress election authority, told The Telegraph on Tuesday. He, however, refused to give any specific date as to when the new president’s name would be announced.

The names that are doing the rounds for the new BPCC chief are that of incumbent Choudhary Mehboob Ali Quaiser, Ramjatan Sinha, Sadanand Singh, Awadhesh Kumar Singh, Dhanraj Singh, Kripa Nath Pathak, Jyoti, Chandan Bagchi, Vijay Shanker Dubey and Ram Deo Rai. Leaders such as Akhilesh Singh and Ranjita Ranjan, who joined the party just ahead of the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, have also thrown their hats in the ring.

Top rung state leaders, including some veteran war-horses, have started shuttling between Patna and New Delhi for “specific” purposes. The Congress high command is, however, reportedly looking for a fresh face and that too from some upper caste to lead the party in the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in the state. If fresh face turns out to be requisite for selection of the new BPCC chief, then leaders such as Premchandra Mishra, Anil Kumar Sharma and Ashok Choudhary could be among the frontrunners.

Mishra, a former youth Congress president who has also been associated with the National Students’ Union of India, has the ability to firmly put the Congress’s views at any forum, a party worker said.

“Many veteran leaders are camping in New Delhi for 15-20 days to promote themselves. But it is unlikely that they would get the plum assignment given the fact that the Congress has been reduced to a four-member party in the Assembly,” a party leader said.

Umakant Singh, a member of the All India Congress Committee, told The Telegraph: “I have requested Sonia Gandhiji and Rahul Gandhiji to take an immediate decision on the appointment of the PCC chief’s post. The delay is causing much damage to the Congress in the state.”