BJP’s New Look

Prashun Bhaumik |

By Sanjiv Acharya

With Nitin Gadkari all set to be the next president of the Bhartiya Janata Party, the RSS high command is now busy finalizing the probable office bearers of the party. The buzz in party circles is that Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley have already been accommodated in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha as deputy leader and leader of the house respectively. The other two of the Delhi Fab Four – Venkaiah Naidu and Ananth Kumar – are not very keen to work under a junior like Gadkari. In such a situation, the RSS will happily appoint their own choice of leaders as office bearers. Murlidhar Rao, the Swadeshi Jagran Manch convenor is tipped to be the general secretary. Prabhat Jha, an old pracharak and  Rajya Sabha MP is also on the list but due to his closeness to Suresh Soni, the in-charge of BJP in RSS, he may not get through as Soni is not that powerful in the RSS hierarchy after the Mohan Rao Bhagwat take over. Anil Dave, also a RSS man and now a BJP Rajya Sabha MP from Madhya Pradesh may get the chance to serve the party at the national level.

From the present set of office bearers, only Thawar Chand Gehlot, a scheduled caste leader from Madhya Pradesh, may continue in ofice. He is the election officer of all India organization elections of the BJP. So he will be a key player in getting a RSS man elected everywhere. Ravi Shankar Prasad, Rajya Sabha MP from Bihar has a good chance of becoming a general secretary and spokesperson, as he is very close to the RSS. He was invited to the Rajgir meeting of the RSS two months ago where the blue print of the changes in the BJP was inked. Vinay Katiyar, firebrand leader of Uttar Pradesh may retain his position in lieu of Liberhan Commission report. One very interesting name doing the rounds is that of Pratibha Advani, daughter of LK Advani. Sources in the BJP say that one of the leaders of the Delhi-4 group is backing her case with the RSS. There is a suggestion to appoint her general secretary, but the RSS top brass is not in any mood to oblige. They may consider her for a junior position in the party. Syed Shahnawaz Hussain and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, both hope to become general secretaries. But the RSS is of the view that Shahnawaz is the only elected Muslim MP of the party in Lok Sabha, and so should be promoted in the House. Naqvi may be sidelined. New Muslim faces are likely to be introduced too.

The RSS is however considering Varun Gandhi as president of the Bhartiya Janata Yuva Morcha, the youth wing of the party, but Varun is more interested in a bigger role in the main party.