Gadkari’s new team developing berth pangs
Senior BJP leader Ananth Kumar, former Karnataka unit president Sadananda Gowda, young party MP from Himachal Pradesh Anurag Thakur, television actress Smriti Irani, former cricketer Navjyot Singh Sidhu, and former party general secretary Sanjay Joshi who made news for an alleged sex CD, are the hot contenders for the national office-bearer posts in the party.
BJP MP from Pilibhit Varun Gandhi, seen as a crowd puller in Uttar Pradesh, is in running for one of the central posts. Anurag Thakur, son of Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, is pitching for the post of BJP youth-wing president for which Gandhi’s name is also being backed by the Nagpur outfit.
Other important names doing the rounds are party national spokesman Ravishankar Prasad as general secretary and Rajiv Pratap Rudy, both from the election-bound Bihar. Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Shahnawaz Khan are also to be part of the fresh national team.
Hectic parleys are on with pressure and pulls working from many sides, including the old guards, to find right slots for “the faithful”.
Sources told Deccan Herald that though party president Nitin Gadkari is sympathetic to Joshi’s return to the core team as general secretary, chairman of the Parliamentary Party L K Advani and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi have pressed “veto” against him. The current general secretary (organisation) Ram Lal is to continue in his current post.
While Ananth Kumar is expected to be one of the general secretaries, the slot for Gowda is yet to be decided. “Gowda is hopeful of being inducted in the central team,” sources close to the former state president said. Gowda who was here to attend the budget session said he was not inclined to join the ministry in the state.
“With Ananth Kumar as general secretary, another man from Karnataka could only be accommodated as vice-president,” said one of the factional leaders in the BJP.
The names of former Karnataka minister Shobha Karandlaje and former Union minister Dhananjay Kumar are also being mentioned. Karandlaje is, however, hopeful of re-joining the state council of ministers in the coming reshuffle, sources said.
The strength of the BJP national office-bearers has recently been raised to 39 from 27. In the new list of office-bearers there will be at least 13 women members.
The front runners among the women to occupy offices include former Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje (general secretary), former BJP Mahila Morcha president Kiran Maheshwari (Rajasthan), television actress Smriti Irani (Maharashtra) and N C Saina (Mumbai), a fashion designer with a Bangalore set up, and Karuna Shukla (Chattisgarh), niece of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Saroj Pandey (Chhattisgarh), Nirmala Sitaram (Andhra Pradesh), Sukhda Pandey (Bihar) and Shobha Karandlaje (Karnataka) may also find place in the new power structure under Gadkari.
