BJP chief Rajnath Singh is expected to make “substantial” changes in the team of office bearers with an eye to the next year’s lok Sabha polls. At least four new faces will be appointed as general secretaries and the list of spokespersons will be trimmed. An announcement is expected in the next week.
Rajiv Pratap Rudy (Bihar) and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi (Uttar Pradesh) are tipped to become general secretaries. The new team is also expected to have a nominee of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi — Amit Shah or Purushottam Rupala — as general secretary. P Muralidhar Rao (Andhra Pradesh) is another probable.
“The idea is to promote young people with some mass base, and the team will be a mix of both experienced and young leaders,” sources told The Pioneer. The BJP’s national team comprises 13 vice-presidents, 10 general secretaries (including organisational secretary), 15 secretaries of which at least 13 should be women, three from the SC and ST category.
Narendra Singh Tomar (Madhya Pradesh), Vijay Goel (Delhi) and Ravi Shankar Prasad, general secretaries in the outgoing team, have put in their papers. Tomar and Goyal have returned to their States as chiefs of the party, while Prasad quit after being appointed the deputy leader of party in the Rajya Sabha.
Ananth Kumar (Karnataka) and Thawarchand Gehlot (Madhya Pradesh) are likely to be retained as general secretaries, while the fate of Kiran Maheshwari (Rajasthan) and JP Nadda (Himachal Pradesh) hangs in the balance. Arjun Munda (Jharkhand) and Jual Oram (Odisha) can come in if Tapir Gao (Arunachal Pradesh) does not return to the national team as a general secretary. If Maheshwari is dropped as general secretary, Om Mathur from her State would fill in.
Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Uma Bharati — now a member of Uttar Pradesh Assembly — too was a front runner for the general secretary’ post, but she may have to settle with the vice-president’s post. Fate of Pilibhit MP Varun Gandhi, another general secretary probable, is yet to be decided. Harshvardhan (Delhi) and Prabhat Jha (Madhya Pradesh) are probable for the V-P’s post.
Saroj Pandey (Chhattisgarh) is tipped to become the chief of Mahila Morcha while Poonam Mahajan (Maharashtra), Pravesh Verma (Delhi) and Nitin Navin (Bihar) are front runners for the Yuva Morcha chief’s post.
“The party is also considering trimming the list of eight spokespersons,” sources claimed. At least three existing spokesmen of the party will be dropped from the list while the list of leaders authorised to appear on television will be “revamped”.