BJP's strategy for 2014: Rajnath Singh hand-picks team to align with RSS for a sharper Hindutva campaign. And Modi appears to be the party's chosen one.
Gujarat CM Narendra Modi has been inducted into the BJP’s 12-member highest decision-making group, the central parliamentary party board, which includes former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and which will ultimately choose the prime ministerial candidate in 2014. This was expected.
The two other faces from Gujarat in BJP president Rajnath Singh’s team are Amit Shah (who was under cloud over the Sohrabuddin encounter death case) who is now general secretary while Rajya Sabha member and former television actress Smriti Irani is vice-president. Former Karnataka CM Sadananda Gowda is one of the 13 new vice-presidents.
There are no surprises in Singh’s new team, announced after much deliberation and consultation. A party functionary, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “Der aaye durust aaye (Better late than never),” and it seemed to express the general party sentiment.
Lal Ji Tandon, party leader from UP and member of Lok Sabha, told DNA that the team includes people from different regions and generations, and that it was a balanced team. Senior party leader Yashwant Sinha called it young and said he hoped it will deliver results. He said Modi’s inclusion in the central parliamentary board was “natural
progression” for Modi.
A party source said Singh had to accommodate quite a lot of legitimate claimants within the restricted number of functionaries, which never goes beyond a certain number.
Former civil aviation minister and spokesman Rajiv Pratap Rudy is one of the new general secretaries and represents a new generation of politicians; the surprise nominee is Varun Gandhi, the debutant MP from Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh, who was recently acquitted from charges of hate speech during the 2009 Lok Sabha election. He has been given a high profile party post.
Two representatives from the RSS are in the team of general secretaries. Ram Lal, who is general secretary in charge of organisation, is already there. He is now joined by Murlidhar Rao.
Singh’s team also includes women. Uma Bharti, the former firebrand who returned to the party when Nitin Gadkari was president, has been named vice-president along with Smriti Irani and three others, including Bijoya Chakravarti from Assam. There are five women vice-presidents, and eight among the 15 secretaries.
Among the two prominent Muslim faces of the BJP, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi continues as vice-president, while Shah Nawaz Husain, who was a spokesman of the party in the outgoing team, has now been included in the important central election committee.
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