The BJP will set up roughly a dozen sub-committees to look after different aspects of election management — including searching pre- and post-poll allies — for the 2014 lok Sabha poll. Details of these sub-committees, which would assist the Narendra Modi-headed Campaign Committee, are expected to be announced on Friday.
“Along with these announcements, some functional responsibilities (related to States) are also likely to be distributed,” a top BJP leader said. However, the idea to set up four zonal committees under senior leaders to oversee preparations for the national election has fallen flat for want of a consensus among the top leadership. “This would have led to duplication and overlapping of roles and responsibilities,” party sources said. A suggestion was made in the last meeting of Parliamentary Board on July 8 that Zonal Committees be set up under Arun Jaitley (North), Nitin Gadkari (West), Sushma Swaraj (East) and M Venakaih Naidu (South) for better election management.
These issues were discussed at the two-hour-long meeting of BJP’s parliamentary Board here on Thursday. This was the third such meeting of the party’s highest decision-making body this month. “There are several aspects of election management that needs to be taken care of. The sub-committees would look after specific duties like arranging logistics for campaign, mobilising resources, preparing literature, publicity, media management and reaching out to targeted groups. Each sub-committee would consist of a head and three or four other members,” party sources said.
According to reports, a top leader of the party would be assigned the responsibility to hunt for allies - both pre- and post-polls. leader of Opposition in the lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj is tipped to get this job. About “functional roles” for party leaders, sources said announcement about appointment of party’s in-charge for election-bound Delhi could be made. Gadkari is tipped to get the assignment for Delhi, but confusion persists over his appointment as the election in-charge for Rajasthan.
Sources claimed Gadkari has insisted that he should get assignment in both the States and not just Delhi. Senior leader Arun Jaitley is said to be the other claimant for the Rajasthan assignment. “Suggestions have been made that Sushma Swaraj and M Venkaiah Naidu be made election in-charges for Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. A decision has not been taken though. Party president Rajnath Singh will take the final call after another round of consultation with senior leaders,” sources said.
Narendra Modi has also been suggested to prepare the campaign strategy in consultation with party general secretaries and RSS’ pointsman in BJP, Ram lal. The parliamentary board of the party will take final call on the campaign strategies and responsibility to execute them would rest with the sub-committees and the Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi-headed Central Programme Implementation and Coordination Committee.