After two successive victories in the general elections and a little over six years of a majority government, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) picked a new team to take it through to the 2024 polls. Jagat Prakash Nadda, who succeeded Amit Shah as party president in January 2020, announced his team only last week, the delay being attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic. Nadda later told journalists that the party had tried “to address every region.. section of society” and ensure “a generational shift” while recognising “talent”.The composition of the new team demonstrated an attempt to groom a younger set of leaders to succeed those of the Narendra Modi-Shah generation, but, equally, it sent out the signal that very few would be allowed to grow roots. It also sent out the message that ideological purity was not of very great consequence – or no longer possible – with a host of recent entrants being given organisational responsibilities. And, in keeping with the BJP’s ever-growing ambitions, the leadership, in its choices, took into account not just the states that will be heading soon to the polls, but the areas where the party hopes to expand, visible in the greater regional representation.Those who found a place in the new team had, party sources stressed, been vetted thoroughly – as has been the practice of the Modi-Shah duo, which has its own methods of “monitoring” party members – and been approved of by the general secretary (organisation) B.L. Santhosh (who represents the RSS in the party). But it was not a list that immediately evoked either shock or awe.In the years that the party was headed by Shah, office bearers did not need too many political skills, beyond being able to carry out orders dutifully, because everything was micromanaged by the party president. The mild-mannered Nadda, though a trusted and experienced colleague of Modi and Shah, has thus far not shown similar dynamism.Till now, one might have assumed that Shah would be on call to provide a guiding hand. But party sources said that Shah’s recent bout of ill-health is causing concern, and till that matter is resolved, it would be difficult to assess how much attention the Union home minister would be able to give to party matters.In BJP circles, the reorganisation in the party is also being seen as presaging possible changes in the Union council of ministers, with perhaps some of those who have been dropped accommodated in government.J.P. Nadda (centre) with Narendra Modi (L) and Amit Shah. Photo: PTIHigh profile exitsThe exit of high-profile general secretaries Ram Madhav, P. Muralidhar Rao, Anil Jain and Saroj Pande has attracted the greatest attention: party insiders are divided over whether they had been dropped over differences with the leadership on their way of functioning or whether it is simply in line with the Modi-Shah principle of not permitting anyone to get too comfortable in any post. Dharmendra Pradhan and Prakash Javadekar, too, are no longer general secretaries, but they hold key positions in the Union cabinet. Of the general secretaries who have survived – Kailash Vijayvargiya, Arun Singh and Bhupendra Yadav – the latter is the man to watch out for. Yadav, along with former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, is currently in charge of the up-coming polls in Bihar: an Amit Shah favourite, party sources say that he is being groomed for the top job in the party.Many of the new general secretaries, who will be in charge of different states, do not inspire too much confidence. Tarun Chugh, for instance, failed to win a seat in the 2012 and 2017 assembly elections in Punjab and was the party’s co-in charge when the party was routed in the Delhi polls. Similarly, Dushyant Kumar Gautam, after facing two successive defeats in the 2008 and 2013 assembly elections in Delhi, was made a Rajya Sabha MP earlier this year. D. Purandeswari, daughter of the late N.T. Rama Rao, matinee idol and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) founder, was a minister in the Manmohan Singh government but resigned from the Congress ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. She fought the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections on a BJP ticket from different constituencies in Andhra Pradesh and lost on both occasions. Will she be able to take on her brother-in-law, TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu?After the party president and the general secretaries, it is the treasurer’s post that is the most significant – the vice-presidential posts are largely ceremonial in nature. Former party treasurer Piyush Goyal – now a key Central minister – has been replaced by Rajesh Agarwal, a former finance minister in Uttar Pradesh. His appointment, party sources say, is both a nod to the Bania community in UP, where chief minister Yogi Adityanath has come under fire for favouring only members of his Thakur community, as well as checking Arvind Kejriwal, also a Bania, in Delhi.BJP leader Bhupendra Yadav. Photo: Facebook/BhupenndrayadavbjpDesire to expand electoral footprintThe party’s desire to expand its electoral footprint is visible in its emphasis on appointing those from the northeast and the southern part of the country. For the first time, the party has a general secretary from the northeast, Lok Sabha MP from Assam Dilip Saikia. Also, M. Chuba Ao from Nagaland is one of the party’s new vice presidents while Mmhonlumo Kikon, also from Nagaland, is one of the 23 new party spokespersons.Southern India is also in focus: Madhav and Rao have been replaced as general secretaries by C.T. Ravi, who is at present a cabinet minister in Karnataka, and D. Purandeshwari from Andhra Pradesh. Tejasvi Surya, 29, has replaced Poonam Mahajan as the head of the Bharatiya Yuva Morcha. Swayamsewak, lawyer and a first time MP from Bengaluru South, he has been in the news for his controversial, no-holds-barred, communally charged statements. His appointment is an indication of the direction that the party wants its youth wing to take and indeed, perhaps, its representatives. K. Laxman from Telangana will head the OBC Morcha.Other office bearers from the south are A.P. Abdulla Kutty (vice-president) from Kerala, Satya Kumar (secretary) from Andhra Pradesh, Rajiv Chandrashekhar (spokesperson) from Karnataka and Tom Vadakkan (spokesperson) from Kerala. Kutty and Vadakkan are also expected to connect with the Muslim and Christian communities in Kerala, where the minority vote is significant.Muslims account for four of the 70 office bearers: apart from Kutty, Jamal Siddiqui heads the Minority Morcha, while former Union minister Syed Shahnawaz Hussain and Syed Zafar Islam have made it to the list of spokespersons.Bengal gets special attentionWest Bengal, headed to the polls next year, has also come in for special attention. State chief minister Mamata Bannerjee’s one-time righthand man, Mukul Roy, has been appointed vice-president and will be calling the shots in the state unit. He is being credited with helping the BJP win 18 of the state’s 42 Lok Sabha seats in 2019. Simultaneously, Anupam Hazra, another former Trinamool Congress MP who was recruited into the BJP by Roy, was appointed national secretary.But former West Bengal BJP chief Rahul Sinha, national secretary in the outgoing team, has been dropped altogether, even though he has spent four decades in the party. And Lok Sabha MP Raju Bista – and a fairly new entrant to the party – has been named as one of the national spokespersons in the hope that he will help consolidate the party’s Gorkha base in the state. The changes are being read as a signal to others in the Trinamool that if they are willing to jump ship, they will be accommodated.Mukul Roy. Photo: PTI/FilesSome attention has been paid to balancing power equations in the states: so former Maharashtra ministers Vinod Tawde and Pankaja Munde (who didn’t get along with ex-CM Devendra Fadnavis) have been accommodated as secretaries, while Mahila Morcha President in the outgoing team, Vijaya Rahatkar, has been appointed as secretary.Of the better-known office bearers in the old team, O.P. Mathur and Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, both seniors, have been replaced as well as Mahajan (the daughter of the late Pramod Mahajan), who headed the BJP Yuva Morcha.Of the 13 women in the team, there are five vice-presidents, one general secretary, three secretaries and four spokespersons. Former chief minister Vasundhara Raje is one of the five vice-presidents.Amit Malviya, head of the IT and social media cell, has been retained for injecting new life into BJP’s social media and IT network. Anil Baluni, a Modi-Shah favourite, has been elevated to the position of chief party spokesperson, a post held in the past by people like the late Arun Jaitley and Ravi Shankar Prasad. His team of 23 spokespersons is a curious mix of former ministers, ex-civil servants, MPs, academics, technocrats and newcomers.Smita Gupta is a senior journalist.
