CHENNAI: With just two months left for the Assembly elections, the BJP is planning some key organisational changes, including relieving long-serving state general secretary (organisation) Kesava Vinayagam and moving him back to the RSS. The decision was taken at a coordination meeting between RSS and BJP functionaries held at the RSS office in Chetpet, sources privy to the closed-door discussions told TNIE.
According to sources, Prasobha Kumar of Kanniyakumari district, an RSS functionary, is likely to be appointed as the new BJP state general secretary (organisation), a post traditionally held by an RSS nominee.
“The decision was taken after a section of the BJP functionaries and workers complained against Vinayagam, alleging that he was acting against a section of the party people and sidelining them,” a source said.
Sources said the RSS side also made it clear that new faces should be prioritised in the allocation of tickets for contesting as BJP’s candidates in Assembly elections. “The RSS conveyed to the party that a regime change under the AIADMK is more important in this election than the relative electoral strength of the individual parties.
So, instead of fielding the same old faces who have lost elections multiple times, RSS wants to field new faces who are ready to work on ground,” the source privy to the meeting told TNIE.
Among the attendees of the meeting were persons co-in-charge of BJP Tamil Nadu for the elections Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, Union Minister of State Murlidhar Mohol and state president Nainar Nagenthran.
Meanwhile, at another closed-door meeting of BJP persons in-charge of Assembly constituency-wise campaign, BL Santhosh, BJP’s national general secretary (organisation), instructed party leaders to persistently communicate on the ground that the NDA would form the government and to project confidence among voters.
“He also told us that we would get a considerable number of seats to contest this time, unlike the 2021 assembly election,” a BJP functionary told TNIE.