NEW DELHI: In order to facilitate smooth restructuring of the state unit of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the national capital, its president Jagat Prakash Nadda has appointed national general secretary Arun Singh and head of women wing Vijaya Rahatlar to oversee the entire process of new team’s formation.
According party functionaries, this development indicates that major organisational reshuffling is on the cards and ‘all is not well’ in the local unit.
Not only this, senior party leaders claim that arguably for the first time such an arrangement has been made for the restructuring a unit.
“As per party constitution, it is mandatory to replace one-third of the office bearers with new faces. Reshuffling seemed imminent after the appointment of new Delhi BJP chief Adesh Kumar Gupta, who took charge last week,” said a party leader, privy to the matter.
However, he pointed out that the involvement of the central leadership means something is not ‘right’ within the state unit.
“It seems that there is trust deficit between central leaders and Delhi in-charge of the party, national vice president Shyam Jaju and its general secretary (organisation) Siddharthan. Possibly, senior leaders are not pleased with their style of functioning.
"The development is also being seen as a move to clip their wings. They couldn’t be replaced immediately so their power seems to have been restricted,” said a former Delhi BJP president requesting anonymity.
Another senior leader, who had held the post of Delhi BJP chief, also was of the view that monitoring by the central leaders would certainly ensure their limited role in organisational changes.
“Perception in the cadre was that Jaju and Siddharthan will call the shots. The message is loud and clear who is final authority now. But technically, the appointment of Singh and Rahatlar infringes upon the rights of the Delhi BJP president, which he inherits to form his team. This is unprecedented and for the first time, it has happened,” said the senior leader who didn’t want to be named.
Various appointments depend on Singh’s report
National general secretary Arun Singh and head of women wing Vijaya Rahatlar will look for qualified faces for the state unit and submit their report to JP Nadda, after which the new team of the Delhi BJP will be announced.
All eyes are on the new appointments to key posts like state vice president, state general secretary, and state secretary.