NEW DELHI: The Delhi BJP chief Adesh Kumar Gupta has tried to balance the caste arithmetic and also please the party’s traditional vote base—Punjabis and Baniyas—in the new team of officer-bearers announced on Thursday. By allocating prominent positions to young dalit and purvanchali leaders, the party has attempted to create a new line of leadership.
Gupta has chosen several fresh faces for organisation responsibilities and the 30-member team, which will oversee party’s functioning, has no big names.
Around a dozen of them are new faces while the rest have served the party in different capacities earlier. Kuljeet Singh Chahal and Rajiv Babbar have been retained as general secretary— a key organisational post—and vice president, respectively.
Former east Delhi mayor Harshdeep Malhotra, a Punjabi, and Dinesh Pratap Singh, former president of Purvanchal Morcha are two new general secretaries. Ashok Goel Devraha, head of media relations, has been elevated as vice president.
Local leaders said Gupta and Devraha have emerged as new Baniya faces in the party. Former state unit secretary Virendra Sachdeva and youth wing president Sunil Yadav have been accommodated as vice president.
Sachdeva is the member of the good governance department of the BJP. Yadav’s elevation as vice-president can be attributed to his contesting the assembly election against Chief minister Arvind Kerjiwal. Other vice presidents are Rajan Tiwari, former student leaders Jaiveer Rana and Karam Singh Karma.
“The inclusions and exclusions show that Siddharthan— general secretary (organisation) of Delhi— had his say in appointments.
Despite his best efforts, Gupta failed to accommodate one of his close aides as general secretary and others in key positions,” a Delhi BJP leader said. Barkha Singh, who had come from the Congress in 2017 and Richa Pandey Mishra, former AAP leader, have been appointed vice president and spokesperson, respectively. Richa joined the BJP in 2019 with former AAP MLA Kapil Mishra. However, Kapil hasn’t been given any responsibility.
No Muslim leader has found a place in the new team. However, Yaser Jilani is among the 11 spokespersons appointed. Shazia Ilmi was vice president in the previous team. Harish Khurana and Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga also feature in the list.
Laxmi Nagar MLA Abhay Verma will be the chief spokesperson. Journalist turned politician Naveen Kumar has been made the head of the media department.
Yogita Singh is the new head of women wing and Vasu Rukhar will lead the youth wing. Kaushal Mishra has been given the responsibility of Purvanchal Morcha while Mohammed Haroon has been retained as head of minority wing. Young leaders— Impreet Singh Bakshi, Gaurav Khari, Sunita Kangda, and Lata Sodi are among eight secretaries.