New Delhi: In yet another rejig of its leadership, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has dropped a few of its central office-bearers while bringing in some new faces in important posts. Among the most important changes, Karnataka hardline leader C.T. Ravi, who recently lost his assembly seat in Chikkamagaluru, was removed as one of the national general secretaries. Dilip Saikia, an Assam MP, was also removed from the national general secretary posts. Reports indicated that they were relieved of their organisational responsibilities to be accommodated as contestants in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.Altogether, the party appointed 13 new vice presidents, nine new general secretaries, and nine secretaries – a majority of whom were reappointed. Among some of the new faces, former Aligarh Muslim University vice-chancellor Tariq Mansoor stood out. Mansoor, who is currently a BJP MLC in Uttar Pradesh, was also appointed as one of the vice-presidents – a move that is being read as the party’s outreach towards Pashmanda Muslims. Radha Mohan Singh, former Union minister and Bihar MP, has also been dropped as one of the vice-presidents and is likely to play a major role in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in his home state. Anil Antony – Congress stalwart A.K. Antony son who recently joined the BJP – has been brought in as one of the new secretaries of the saffron party. In a significant development, Gorakhpur leader Radha Mohan Agarwal was also promoted as one of the national general secretaries. Agarwal, who had represented Gorakhpur (Urban) seat since 2002 was asked to vacate his constituency for Uttar Pradesh chief minister Adityanath in the last assembly polls. But he was soon made a Rajya Sabha MP – a move observers say was meant to placate Agarwal. He was also given the responsibility to oversee the state units of Kerala and Lakshadweep.Agarwal is widely known as Adityanath’s friend-turned-rival in Gorakhpur. A few years ago, he had openly protested against Adityanath’s state administration and Gorakhpur MP Ravi Kishan for mismanagement of floods and other problems. By appointing him as a national general secretary, considered to be the most important organisation position in the BJP, the Modi-Shah duo has promoted yet another Adityanath’s rival in the party. Earlier, another rival of Adityanath, Shiv Pratap Shukla, was also appointed as Himachal Pradesh’s governor.The latest party decisions were taken at a four-hour-long meeting on Friday. Chaired by party president J.P.Nadda, the meeting held discussions on the party’s electoral strategies, its outreach programmes like Maha Jansampark Abhiyan, and its progress in poll-bound states ahead of the parliamentary polls. It was attended by BJP’s national general secretary (organisation) B.L. Santosh, national joint secretary V.Saitsh, general secretaries Arun Singh, Sunil Bansal, Vinod Tawde, Tarun Chugh, Kailash Vijayvargiya, Delhi Shaukeen, and Dushyant Gautam among others, The Economic Times reported. The leaders especially discussed electoral strategies in states like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, and Mizoram, all of which will have their assembly elections before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Earlier this month, the party had also rejigged its state leadership in many states, in an attempt to represent leaders from under-represented caste groups.
