<p>Ahead of its key organisational conclave in Bengaluru, Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani failed to retain her place in the reconstituted 111-member BJP national executive announced by party chief Amit Shah on Thursday. <br /><br /></p>.<p>This is perhaps for the first time that the actor-turned-politician will not be part of the national executive since joining the party way back in 2003. <br /><br />She has held crucial party posts earlier, including heading its women’s wing and the post of vice-president, before being elevated as the youngest Cabinet minister in the Narendra Modi government.<br /><br />The BJP leaders were flummoxed to explain Smriti’s surprise absence from the party platform. A leader guessed that by axing her, Shah and Modi might be sending a message to others that no one is indispensable or something else could be in store for her. <br /><br />Shah is expected to announce his team of office bearers soon. Other missing prominent women leaders are: Minority Affairs Minister Najma Heptullah, Hema Malini and Shaina N C. Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is the new entrant. <br /><br />A reason, BJP sources said, for dropping Heptuallah is that she might be moved out of the government since she will soon turn 75 – the age bar Modi had fixed for giving Cabinet berths to NDA leaders. <br /><br />Actor and Mathura MP Hema Malini missed the bus as several leaders from Uttar Pradesh have been drafted into the national executive.<br /><br />While Shah has opted for only 8 women in the rejigged national executive, his predecessor Rajnath Singh, who is now home minister, had accommodated 26 of them in the 80-member key body. <br /><br />Singh, in his first stint as the BJP president in 2006, had formed the national executive on the basis of the Sushma Swaraj-headed panel which recommended 33 per cent reservation for women in different organisational set ups. <br /><br />Shah, however, has retained senior leaders and ministers, including Modi, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Singh, Sushma, Arun Jaitley and Venkaiah Naidu, as members.<br /><br />Ministers V K Singh, Rao Inderjeet Singh and Subramanian Swamy are among the freshers in the members category. <br /><br />Popular playback singer and Minister of State for Urban Development Babul Supriyo has been made a special invitee owing to Assembly elections in his home state of West Bengal in a year’s time.</p>
<p>Ahead of its key organisational conclave in Bengaluru, Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani failed to retain her place in the reconstituted 111-member BJP national executive announced by party chief Amit Shah on Thursday. <br /><br /></p>.<p>This is perhaps for the first time that the actor-turned-politician will not be part of the national executive since joining the party way back in 2003. <br /><br />She has held crucial party posts earlier, including heading its women’s wing and the post of vice-president, before being elevated as the youngest Cabinet minister in the Narendra Modi government.<br /><br />The BJP leaders were flummoxed to explain Smriti’s surprise absence from the party platform. A leader guessed that by axing her, Shah and Modi might be sending a message to others that no one is indispensable or something else could be in store for her. <br /><br />Shah is expected to announce his team of office bearers soon. Other missing prominent women leaders are: Minority Affairs Minister Najma Heptullah, Hema Malini and Shaina N C. Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is the new entrant. <br /><br />A reason, BJP sources said, for dropping Heptuallah is that she might be moved out of the government since she will soon turn 75 – the age bar Modi had fixed for giving Cabinet berths to NDA leaders. <br /><br />Actor and Mathura MP Hema Malini missed the bus as several leaders from Uttar Pradesh have been drafted into the national executive.<br /><br />While Shah has opted for only 8 women in the rejigged national executive, his predecessor Rajnath Singh, who is now home minister, had accommodated 26 of them in the 80-member key body. <br /><br />Singh, in his first stint as the BJP president in 2006, had formed the national executive on the basis of the Sushma Swaraj-headed panel which recommended 33 per cent reservation for women in different organisational set ups. <br /><br />Shah, however, has retained senior leaders and ministers, including Modi, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Singh, Sushma, Arun Jaitley and Venkaiah Naidu, as members.<br /><br />Ministers V K Singh, Rao Inderjeet Singh and Subramanian Swamy are among the freshers in the members category. <br /><br />Popular playback singer and Minister of State for Urban Development Babul Supriyo has been made a special invitee owing to Assembly elections in his home state of West Bengal in a year’s time.</p>
