Last week, the
BJP President Mr. JP Nadda announced his team of office bearers. This was perhaps
delayed given the conditions following the lockdown to tackle the pandemic
induced by the Chinese virus. There were surprises and also some expected
appointments. The surprises too perhaps could have been anticipated. Some of
the inclusions or exclusions or non-inclusions do lead to new speculations. These
speculations are invariably linked to the expected Cabinet reshuffle and
expansion by PM Modi. Thus, it would be in order to understand the logic behind
the appointments or non-appointments in the party team.
In the BJP’s
organizational structure, few positions are critical and many perhaps
ornamental or support staff. While the party president no doubt is the most
powerful, one doubts about JP Nadda’s authority to be exercised independently of
PM Modi and Home Minster Shah. During the reign of Amit Shah, there was no ambiguity
on who called the shots in the party affairs. There was near to perfect
coordination between PM and the party president something unseen in years. JP
Nadda derives his authority from his proximity to both the Prime Minister and
the Home Minister. His authority would be eroded the moment he loses the
confidence of either of them. Therefore on the first glance, a stamp of Shah or
Modi is clearly visible. Nadda has not been able to perhaps build his own men
into the team. It is evident that Shah controls the party even today.
The second most
important position would be of the General Secretary (Organization). This position
is loaned by the RSS and carries significant weight. He is the man who is the
bridge between the party and its parent organization. The power he wields in
the party hierarchy is tremendous. BL Santosh had replaced Ramlal last year and
he continues to be in that position. A usually low profile character, he has
played a key role in organizing the party in Karnataka. His run-ins with the
Karnataka supremo BS Yeddyurappa are well known to be repeated here. BL Santosh
too enjoys the confidence of both Modi and Shah besides his parent
organization, the RSS.
The General
Secretary carries a lot of weight in the party. It is the General Secretaries
who get assigned to manage states and thus have power to allot tickets in the
elections. Bhupendra Yadav, Arun Singh and Kailash VIjayvargia have been
retained and perhaps no surprises here. What has aroused interest is the
exclusion of RSS leaders like Ram Madhav, Muralidhar Rao besides Saroj Pandey
from the team. There were a few controversies surrounding Madhav while Saroj
Pandey might join the ministry. There is certainly a surprise in Purandeshwari,
daughter of NTR being accommodated as the general secretary. While she might be
seen as a contender to NTR’s succession, she has not shown signs of being a
mass leader or ensuring defections from the TDP to the BJP in her six year
stint in the party. CT Ravi has been chosen as a general secretary and again
given his track record of not able to emerge as a mass leader, there must be a
wait and watch policy before judging his tenure. Perhaps the same holds good
for Dilip Saikia from Assam. Other general secretaries have not shown any great
performance in organizational matters and hence are likely to remain
ornamentally in their positions. Of course, at one point of time, the position
of general secretary was held by party giants like Pramod Mahajan, Sushma
Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Ananth Kumar among others. In all probability, Bhupendra
Yadav will be the key among the general secretaries.
The role of
national secretaries has been to support the general secretaries. While those
like Sunil Deodhar (architect of Tripura win) might be elevated in the near
future, the others might have been given for symbolic purposes or to balance
state, regional, caste and class considerations. The party Vice Presidents are
purely for symbolic purposes to accommodate a few senior leaders. Thus former
Chief Ministers like Raman Singh or Vasundhara Raje find themselves in these
positions. They have tried to accommodate a Kerala Muslim face in Abdulla Kutty
as the vice president. There might be a few inclusions like Mukul Roy or DK
Aruna who are likely to use the position to give a push to the party in their respective
states. While Jay Panda has been appointed as the Vice President, he might be
entrusted with more tasks in line with the general secretaries.
Tejasvi Surya
has been given the charge of the Yuva Morcha, a sign of confidence in the young
leader. He has his task cut out to demonstrate he is a man ready to ride
greater challenges. Poonam Mahajan, his predecessor might be accommodated in
the ministry. A Cabinet expansion and reshuffle is long awaited. Therefore,
many party leaders might find themselves accommodated in the ministry. Jyotiraditya
Scindia has been awaiting for long since he joined the party earlier this year.
So are many others. Devendra Fadnavis has not been given any posts but made
Bihar incharge. One possible line of thinking could be something is up in
Maharashtra. There could be realignment of forces and Fadnavis might find
himself back in the CM chair. There are complaints of Tamil Nadu being
unrepresented but might itself given a post or two at a later stage. Andhra and
Telangana find themselves with more posts indicating the possible BJP plan of
expansion there.
Yet, the
Parliamentary Board, the most powerful of the bodies has not been reconstituted
nor the replacements have been appointment following the vacancies created by
the deaths of Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj and Anatha Kumar. BJP finds for
itself a full time treasurer after a pretty long time. The party has added some
25 spokespersons. There are of course murmurs as usual about inclusions and
non-inclusions. But Nadda seems to have gone by and large with the team
suggested or at least perceived close to Shah. PM Modi commands high degree of
popularity and trust. It is up to the party team to consolidate, leverage and
thus strengthen the organization at the village and block levels across the
country including terrains hitherto unexplored.
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