BJP brains trust: Nadda, Modi, Shah.

Big BJP revamp: Team Nadda moves away from Shah; old gives way to new

Ram Madhav, Muralidhar Rao replaced as gen secys; BJP not a party but an idea: Shah

Agency Report | New Delhi | 26 September, 2020 | 09:20 PM

It's a brand new team which is completely different from Team Amit Shah. While BJP's Team Nadda gives additional thrust to its Gen-Next, it also means making space for them by removing some veterans like Ram Madhav and Muralidhar Rao, provoking speculation whether some of them may find a space in the Cabinet in the much-speculated reshuffle while entering through the Rajya Sabha. At least four big names were dropped as BJP national general secretaries in Team Nadda — Ram Madhav who has been taking care of the party's affairs in J&K, Ladakh and the northeast, Muralidhar Rao, who has been spearheading its south India affairs under the aegis of BL Santosh, and Rajya Sabha members Anil Jain and Saroj Pandey. Shivraj Singh Chauhan Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh is no longer BJP vice president in the new team. Uma Bharti, Prabhat Jha, Vinay Sahasrabuddhe dropped as vice presidents in Team Nadda while Om Mathur, Shyam Jaju, Avinash Rai Khanna and Dushyant Gautam also out in the new scheme of things as far as BJP's national vice presidents are concerned.

The much-anticipated Team Nadda has been declared finally. Three ex-chief ministers have been accommodated as BJP vice presidents while there has been a major overhaul among national general secretaries with many significant names dropped and new faces given a chance. Many young turks with strong articulation skills have also been given a shot to prove their mettle.

Former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, former Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje Scindia, and ex-Jharkhand CM Raghubar Das are three former CMs among the 12 national vice presidents. From poll-bound West Bengal Mukul Roy and Bihar’s Radha Mohan Singh figure in the list.

While Bhupender Yadav, Arun Singh, and Kailash Vijayvargiya continue to remain national general secretaries, new faces like CT Ravi from Karnataka have been inducted as well. D Purandeswari from Andhra Pradesh has also been made national general secretary.

BL Santosh remains national general secretary (Organisation). Among 13 national secretaries, Rahul Sinha from West Bengal has been removed. Anupam Hazra has taken his place. Other prominent names that figure in the list of 13 are Maharashtra’s Vinod Tawade, UP’s Vinod Sonkar, and Maharashtra’s Pankaja Munde, among others.

Rajesh Agarwal is the BJP treasurer. The post was once occupied by Piyush Goyal.

In spite of recent controversies, Amit Malviya continues to enjoy the party hierarchy’s trust and will continue as IT cell head.

Young Turks have been given special chance in Team Nadda. Karnataka MP Tejasvi Surya is now BJP’s new Yuva Morcha head. In spite of his health issues, Anil Baluni will continue to head the media section as Sanjay Mayukh will continue to remain his deputy. From poll-bound Bihar Syed Shahnawaz Hussain and Rajiv Pratap Rudy – both former ministers and articulate debaters – have been chosen as national spokespersons.

Guruprakash will also be a part of Bihar media. From West Bengal, Darjeeling MP Raju Biswa makes the cut. Tom Vadakkan who moved to the BJP from Congress will be BJP’s spokesman from Kerala.
Besides Raje, three other leaders from Rajasthan have found a place in the list which includes Rajya Sabha MP Bhupendra Yadav who has been made national general secretary, Alka Gurjar is the new secretary while MP Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore has been announced as the national spokesperson.

Raje, since the last few days, was camping in Delhi and meeting party higher-ups after being upset with the Rajasthan BJP team ignoring her while taking crucial decisions.

Rathore has been a former Union Sports Minister who is presently an MP from Jaipur Rural.
Significantly, Uma Bharti recently defended Sharad Pawar when she said that his statement was against Lord Ram and not against Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the NCP supremo had said that some people think coronavirus can be eradicated by building a temple.

The BJP national secretaries list too saw a complete overhaul with leaders like H. Raja, R.P. Singh, Maheish Girri, Rahul Sinha among others being shown the door. Most of these exits are believed to be on account of their performance.

Almost all the Morcha heads – be it Poonam Mahajan of Yuva Morcha, Vinod Sonkar of SC Morcha, Ramvichar Netam of ST Morcha, and Abdul Rasheed Ansari of Minority Morcha – have been replaced.

It’s a brand new team which is completely different from Team Amit Shah. While most eliminations are clearly due to non-performance and some allegedly due to aiding the culture of camps in state organisations, a few performers like Ram Madhav and Muralidhar Rao too are out. This has prompted speculation about a possible Cabinet reshuffle and their entry into it.

Union Home Minister and Nadda’s predecessor Amit Shah said that “BJP is not a party but an idea” while congratulating the new team members.

Meanwhile, many of those who were replaced today posted customary “thank you” notes on social media but others remained mum.

“Best wishes to all newly-appointed national officials. BJP is not just a party but an idea, which is constantly moving for the welfare of every class. I believe this new team under the guidance of Narendra Modi and Nadda’s leadership will strengthen this idea even further,” Shah tweeted.

After being replaced, former BJP general secretary Ram Madhav put out a small message on Twitter: “Congratulations to the newly-appointed office-bearers of BJP. Grateful to the party leadership for providing me the opportunity to serve for one term as Gen Sec.”

Saroj Pandey too thanked the party. However, many like Uma Bharti or Rahul Sinha have maintained a stoic silence so far on them being replaced.

The much anticipated Team Nadda was released where there has been a major overhaul with big names like Ram Madhav, Muralidhar Rao, Uma Bharti, Om Mathur being dropped while giving a chance to new faces like C.T. Ravi, and Tejasvi Surya. Even turncoats like Mukul Roy, Anupam Hazra and Tom Vadakkan have found a place in his team.

The BJP’s list of national office-bearers came as a surprise for many in the party’s Tamil Nadu unit as no state leader figures in it.

H Raja, who was BJP national secretary, has been dropped.

The state will go for Assembly polls in around eight months. Interestingly, Tamil Nadu is the only southern state from where no one has become an office-bearer in the national team.

A senior leader, not wishing to be quoted, said that hopefully, a leader from Tamil Nadu might get some party post. (IANS)