A major organisational reshuffle is expected soon in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the central and State levels as the party gears up for major ‘vistar’ (expansion) from the North to the South and from the West to the East before the 2019 General Elections.
According to sources, though the party is confident of having elected its nominees for the posts of President and Vice-President, it would still “present its panel” before the Opposition unless the latter seeks a contest and puts up its own candidates.
Sources said Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will quit his lok Sabha seat from Gorakhpur and contest Vidhan Sabha polls only after elections to the top constitutional posts in July.
Changes in State presidents and a major organisational reshuffle across the country, including in UP, would be carried out soon.
One of the BJP’s vice-presidents Dinesh Sharma is Deputy Chief Minister in the Yogi Government, while two of the national secretaries, Shrikant Sharma and Siddharth Nath Singh, are Cabinet Ministers in UP.
Another Deputy-Chief Minister in the UP Government, Keshav Prasad Maurya, will also be quitting as BJP State unit chief.
“There are five to six leaders in the fray for the post,” sources said.
BJP president Amit Shah would be visiting lucknow to attend a State Executive meet on May 2 where the issue of the new State president may figure, sources said.
Amit Shah, who has just returned from West Bengal after consolidation of booth-level structures in the State, is visiting Jammu on Saturday where he would have “discussions with intellectuals.” The situation in Kashmir Valley would also figure during the interaction.
Shah would continue on his 95-day countrywide tour of the States until September. He embarked on it from Kolkata on Tuesday.
The BJP’s “Vistar Yojna” in the year of Deen Dayal’s birth centenary, would focus on the BJP’s ideological and organizational expansion, besides taking measures to improve its electoral performance.
Apart from Bengal, Shah is visiting Odisha, Telangana, lakshadweep and Gujarat for three days where “he would go twice”. There would be “review and stock taking” with an eye to bring “uniformity and standardization” in the functioning of all the BJP units in the country, sources said. “There would not be a single booth in the country where BJP workers’ presence is not felt,” they said.
All the 11 crore members of the BJP would be listed, contacted and given assignments in the party’s work. The party has prepared a special strategy to win 120 lok Sabha seats which is had lost from time to time.