NEW DELHI: Smriti Irani and Ram Madhav made a comeback to BJP’s organisation Monday as party chief Nitin Nabin effected a broad sweep in its new team of national office-bearers, bringing in experienced hands at key positions and retaining a few with successful stints, with a focus on wide social and regional representation.BJP named 13 vice-presidents — nine new faces; eight general secretaries — six first-timers; and 16 secretaries — 15 fresh choices. A few notable names who have retained their positions include former Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje as vice president, Sunil Bansal and Vinod Tawde as general secretaries, Anil Baluni as head of media department and Sambit Patra as north-east coordinator.
This is the most drastic overhaul since Amit Shah unveiled his team after taking over as party president in 2014
Piyush Goyal back as BJP treasurer, 51 new faces in 65-member Team Nabin
Union minister Piyush Goyal has been made treasurer, a position he had held in run up to BJP’s Lok Sabha win in 2014. Though the party has the convention of ‘one-person, one-post’, it has had quite a few exceptions.Of the total 65 office-bearers named, 51 are new, while around 21 are 50 years of age and more than 20 are between 50 to 59 years of age, with party sources noting this team will be in place when BJP goes to the national election in 2029. This is the most drastic overhaul since Amit Shah unveiled his team after taking over as party president in 2014. Only seven of the new office-bearers from five southern states.Two other ex-CMs Tirath Singh Rawat of Uttarakhand as vice president and Biplab Kumar Deb of Tripura as general secretary along with several union ministers and state party presidents have made the cut, besides 10 women, 18 MPs and five members of minority communities.The new appointees come from 23 states and UTs, including a maximum of eight from the politically important Uttar Pradesh, with four from STs and three from SCs and nearly 10 OBCs.In his reaction, PM Narendra Modi said, “This newly appointed team brings together organisational experience, energy and grassroots connect. I am confident they will give their best in strengthening our party and focusing on public service.”Six new general secretaries, the most powerful position in the organisation, are former Tripura CM Deb, former Rajasthan party president Satish Poonia, a Jat, MP Gajendra Patel, who is from ST community in Madhya Pradesh, ex-MP Harish Dwivedi, a Brahmin from UP, and MP Sanjay Bhatia, a Punjabi community member from Haryana, besides Irani.Madhav, a former general secretary, is one of the 13 vice presidents, including Manpreet Singh Badal from Punjab and D Purandeshwari of Andhra Pradesh. Baijyant Jay Panda has been retained as a vice president.A former BJP women’s wing president, Irani’s appointment marks his emphatic return to the thick of party’s affairs after her LS poll loss in Amethi in 2024. A former Union minister, she is considered a sharp, articulate and energetic voice.Bansal, who was deeply involved in BJP’s successful poll campaigns in Bengal and Odisha recently and in UP in 2017, and Tawde, a seasoned organisational hand associated with the Bihar victory, have their standing go up by a few notches as they kept their position.
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While many outgoing office-bearers were unlikely to find their names in the new list, almost seven months after Nabin took over as BJP chief, one omission that stood out was of IT department in charge Amit Malviya, who was in the position for over a decade and was found wanting by some in shaping party’s narrative in an increasing contested online space.Deepak Mhaskey, an academic from Chhattisgarh and has been associated with BJP’s online campaign in several elections, will be convener of its new social media department with four co-convenors. A senior party functionary, though, added that Malviya’s stint was bound to end after such a long time at the post.
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