Nitin Gadkari and Shivraj Singh Chouhan out, Yediyurappa in; no Adityanath: Major revamp in BJP parliamentary board

In a major organisational reshuffle, the BJP on Wednesday dropped Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan from its parliamentary board -- the party’s top decision-making body.   

The party included former Karnataka Chief Minister and Lingayat strongman B S Yediyurappa, Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal, former IPS officer Iqbal Singh Lalpura, former Lok Sabha MP Satyanarayan Jatiya, BJP National OBC Morcha president K Lakshman, and national secretary Sudha Yadav in the party’s parliamentary board.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, BJP National General Secretary Bhupender Yadav, Om Mathur and its women wing chief Vanathi Srinivasan have been made the members of party’s Central Election Committee (CEC). Former Union minister Shahnawaz Hussain and Jual Oran has been dropped from it. All the parliamentary board members are also part of the CEC.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP chief J P Nadda and Union Ministers Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh are also part of the board. Notably, Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath has not been named in the party's top body.

According to news agency PTI, the shuffle is an attempt by the BJP to make its parliamentary board more socially and regionally representative. Lalpura is the first Sikh to be included in the party’s parliamentary board as a person from a minority community.

Gadkari's exclusion from the BJP's parliamentary board comes as a bis surprise given the fact that the party has traditionally kept its former presidents in the decision-making process.

Another major highlight of the rejig is the surprise entries of three names -- Yediyurappa, Fadnavis and Sarbananda Sonowal. Their inclusion seems like the party's bid to placate them.

Yediyurappa was forced to resign as Karnataka CM last year, due to age and growing dissentment against him within the state unit. Similarly, Sonowal had agreed to make way for Himanta Biswa Sarma after the BJP was re-elected in Assam. Fadnavis was also was forced to accept a downgrade to Deputy Chief Minister when the BJP came to power in Maharashtra with Shiv Sena rebel Eknath Shinde. 

Eleven members of the reconstituted Parliamentary Board are party president Nadda, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah and Sarbananda Sonowal, former Karnataka chief minister BS Yediyurappa, OBC Morcha national president K Laxman, Iqbal Singh Lalpura, Sudha Yadav, Satyanarayan Jatia and national general secretary (organisation) B L Santhosh.

The 15-member Central Election Committee includes the 11 members of the Parliamentary Board and Union Minister Bhupender Yadav, deputy chief minister of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis, Om Mathur and Vanathi Srinivasan.