In preparation for the upcoming Assembly elections in five states and the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president J P Nadda announced a reshuffling of the party’s central office-bearers on Saturday. The move included the appointment of a Pasmanda Muslim from Uttar Pradesh as one of its vice presidents and former Telangana unit chief, Bandi Sanjay Kumar, as a national general secretary.
As part of the changes, C T Ravi, a prominent leader from Karnataka, and Dilip Saikia, a Lok Sabha MP from Assam, were dropped as general secretaries.
The list features 13 vice-presidents and nine general secretaries, with B L Santhosh retaining his position as the in-charge of organisation. Among the fresh faces, Radha Mohan Agrawal, a Rajya Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh, was included in the list of general secretaries. Seven general secretaries retained their positions.
The new secretaries appointed are Anil Antony, son of veteran Congress leader A K Antony, Surendra Singh Nagar, an influential Gurjar leader from western UP, and Kamakhya Prasad Tasa, Rajya Sabha MP from Assam, who has been a prominent representative of tea tribes in the northeastern state.
Notably, former Union minister Radha Mohan Singh, a Lok Sabha MP from Bihar, was dropped from the position of party vice president, while Laxmikant Bajpai, former Uttar Pradesh BJP president and Rajya Sabha MP, was appointed as one of the new vice presidents.
The inclusion of Mansoor, a former Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) vice-chancellor and current BJP MLC in Uttar Pradesh, as a party vice president, is seen as a significant move aimed at reaching out to Pasmanda (backward) Muslims.
Regarding the exclusion of C T Ravi from the list of general secretaries, some observers perceive it as a consequence of the BJP’s recent electoral defeat in Karnataka, where Ravi, a four-term MLA, lost his seat in a closely contested assembly poll. However, a party leader dismissed any overinterpretation of the reshuffling, stating that many of the dropped office-bearers, including C T Ravi, may contest the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and focus on their respective constituencies.
The appointment of Bandi Sanjay as a national general secretary, shortly after his removal as the Telangana BJP president, is being viewed as a signal to the party cadres that he continues to be valuable to the national leadership, and his removal was a strategic decision in light of the political realities in the southern state, according to party sources, reported PTI.
Seasoned leaders, such as former chief ministers Raman Singh, Vasundhara Raje, and Raghubar Das, were retained as vice presidents in the new list.
Notable BJP figures like Arun Singh, Kailash Vijayvargiya, Dushyant Kumar Gautam, Tarun Chugh, Sunil Bansal, and Vinod Tawde also retained their positions as general secretaries.
Nadda’s tenure as BJP president was extended in January of this year, allowing him to lead the party during the next Lok Sabha polls.
Meanwhile, in other announcements, BJP President JP Nadda appointed Phanindranath Sharma as the organization general secretary for Haryana, Ravindra Raju for Assam and Tripura, and Vivek Dadhakar for Andaman and Nicobar, according to a statement released on Saturday.