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New Delhi: Giving a
clear indication of the bigger role Gujarat Chief Minister
Narendra Modi would play in the party's preparations for the 2014
Lok Sabha polls, the BJP Sunday reinducted him into its top
decision-making group, the parliamentary board.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also sought to reinvigorate its
team of office bearers by promoting some young faces and
articulate parliamentarians.
The rejig by BJP president Rajnath Singh also saw Modi's
controversial aide Amit Shah and Pilibhit MP Varun Gandhi also
being made general secretaries and former Madhya Pradesh chief
minister and rebel Uma Bharti a vice president.
Modi, the only chief minister to find a place in the parliamentary
board, also has been made a member of the party's central election
committee and will clearly play a role in selecting party
candidates for the coming elections.
Modi comes back to the parliamentary board after about six years
but in changed circumstances. There have been demands from some
sections that he be declared the BJP's prime ministerial
candidate.
There are also indications that Modi would head the party's
campaign committee for the Lok Sabha polls in the coming months.
Amit Shah's induction as general secretary is being seen in party
circles as Modi's influence in the composition of the new team.
Shah is an accused in the Soharabuddin Sheikh and Tulsi Prajapati
alleged staged shootout cases. He is a legislator from Naranpura
in Gujarat.
Rajnath Singh's new team, which will take the party through
preparations of crucial assembly polls this year to five states
and the Lok Sabha polls in 2014, includes 13 vice presidents, 10
general secretaries, 15 secretaries and seven spokespersons.
The new vice presidents include former Karnataka chief minister
Sadananda Gowda, former MP S.S. Ahluwalia, MPs Smriti Irani,
Balbir Punj and Prabhat Jha and former Punjab minister Laxmi Kanta
Chawla.
Uma Bharti, who has been associated with the Ramjanambhoomi
movement, has returned to the team of central office-bearers.
Five of the 13 BJP vice presidents are women.
Bangalore South MP Ananth Kumar and paryt leader from Odisha
Dharamendra Pradhan have been retained as general secretaries
though there was speculation about their continuation in the
posts.
Besides them, the 10 general secretaries includes former central
minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy, former party secretary Murlidhar Rao
and former Himachal Pradesh minister J.P. Nadda. Ram Lal will be
general secretary (organisation).
Varun Gandhi has also returned to the party's centrestage with his
appointment as general secretary.
Two cases were registered against him for delivering "hate
speeches" during his 2009 election campaign, but he was exonerated
of the charges.
Party veterans Yashwant Sinha and Jaswant Singh have not found a
place in Rajnath Singh's team. Najma Heptulla, Hema Malini and
Shanta Kumar also have been dropped as vice presidents.
The new spokespersons include former MP Bizay Sonkar Shastri,
Rajnath Singh's political aide Sudhanshu Trivedi, lawyer Meenakshi
Lekhi and former party secretary Capt Abhimanyu.
Prakash Javadekar, Shahnawaz Hussain and Nirmala Sitharaman will
continue as spokespersons.
Ravi Shankar Prasad, the BJP's deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha,
is no longer on the panel as chief spokesperson.
Poonam Mahajan, daughter of late party leader Pramod Mahajan, has
has been made a secretary.
The 12-member Central Parliamentary Board is headed by Rajnath
Singh, and has as members Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L.K. Advani, Murli
Manohar Joshi, M. Venkaiah Naidu, Nitin Gadkari, Sushma Swaraj,
Arun Jaitley, Ananth Kumar, Thawar Chand Gehlot and Ram Lal, apart
from Modi.
The central election committee includes all these leaders apart
from Gopinath Munde, Jual Oran, Shahnawaz Hussain, Vinay Katiyar,
J.P. Nadda and Harshwardhan. Mahila Morcha chief Saroj Pandey is
the ex-officio member of this committee.
There was some speculation that Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister
Shivraj Singh Chouhan may also be included in the party's
parliamentary board.
Prakash Javadekar said: "Narendra Modi is one of the popular
leaders of the country, and that is why he is in the parliamentary
board."
He said both "new and experienced faces" have been included in the
team and the party's aim was to win the 2014 elections and
"relieve the country of bad governance by the Congress".
Javadekar defended Amit Shah's inclusion in the team.
"People don't come to the BJP from one family. They are inducted
on merit. Unless a court verdict comes or the Supreme Court says
something, we cannot prohibit him from occupying a position in the
party," he said.
BJP vice president Mukhtar Abbas said the new team has been
decided by Rajnath Singh after discussions with senior party
leaders.
"I think it is a perfect and balanced team," Naqvi said.
Party leaders said that the decision on prime ministerial
candidate would be taken at an appropriate time.
Rajnath Singh also announced national executive committee and a
four-member central disciplinary committee.
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