JOIN USThe Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will soon go in for a major rejig to fill vacancies in the organisation at various levels after its chief Rajnath Singh, along with eight of his party colleagues, were inducted into the Narendra Modi Cabinet.
The saffron party will not only have to find a replacement for Rajnath, but for three vice-presidents, one treasurer and three spokespersons and two state unit chiefs. While Rajnath has become Union home minister, vice presidents – Uma Bharti, Smriti Irani and Jual Oram – have become ministers of water resources, human resources development and tribal affairs respectively.
Rajnath is the second party president after patriarch L K Advani to become Union home minister.
Advani had joined Atal Bihari Vajpayee government as Union home minister when the NDA came to power for the first time in 1998.
General Secretary J P Nadda is one of the leaders whose name is in circulation for the next BJP president. Nadda has had meetings with Modi recently that has fueled speculation that he is one of the leaders in the race. Rajnath will have to put in his papers as the party follows one-man-one-post policy and a decision is expected early June.
The party will also have to look for substitutes for three spokespersons – Ravi Shankar Prasad, Prakash Javadekar and Nirmala Sitharaman.