VIJAYAWADA: Recently-appointed BJP state chief Somu Veerraju, who announced that he would strengthen the party to put up a tough fight in the 2024 legislative Assembly elections, on Sunday reconstituted the state committee, attempting to strike a balance among leaders of all three regions and give prominence to women.
While 10 vice presidents were picked, Somu appointed five general secretaries, 10 state secretaries, one treasurer and a state office secretary. Six people were made spokespersons.
Former ministers who joined the party from the TDP Adinarayana Reddy and Ravela Kishore Babu were made vice presidents, with former Visakhapatnam MLA P Vishnu Kumar Raju, Relangi Sridevi (Rajamahendravaram), Kaku Vijaya Lakshmi (Nellore), Malathi Rani (Eluru), Nimmaka Jayaraju (Parvathipuram), Pydi Venugopal (Srikakulam), P Surendar Reddy (Nellore) and Chandramouli (Kurnool).
MLC PVN Madhav from Visakhapatnam, S Vishnu Vardhan Reddy from Hindupur, Lokula Gandhi from Araku, Suryanarayana Raju from Kakinada and organising general secretary N Madhukar from Vijayawada have been appointed as the general secretaries. Vishnu Vardhan Reddy, who is the vice chairperson of Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan, was earlier vice president in the previous committee.
N Ramesh Naidu, who was the state BJ Yuva Morcha president, has been elevated as state secretary along with former Guntur ZP chairman Pathuri Nagabhushanam. Eight more state secretaries - S Umamaheswari (Srikakulam), Kandrika Uma (Tirupati), Mattam Santhi Kumari (Aruku), A Kamala (Nellore), K Chiranjeevi Reddy (Anantapur), K Neelakanta (Kurnool), B Srinivas Varma (Narsapuram), and M Sudhakar Yadav (Guntur - were also given postings. Vijayawada parliamentary in-charge Vamaraju Satya Murthy will be the state treasurer and headquarters in-charge, while P Srinivas will serve as the office secretary.
Somu Veerraju wished that the new appointees would work with commitment to strengthen the party from booth-level and pave the way for its victory in the next elections. “The reconstitution of the state committee has been done keeping in mind regional balance, 33 per cent seats for women, and a combination of veteran party leaders and new entrants. This committee headed by Somu Veerraju will set the tone for BJP’s victory in the 2024 elections,” said S Vishnu Vardhan Reddy, one of the five general secretaries.
According to a statement from the party, Surenda Mohan from Visakhapatnam has been appointed as the BJ Yuva morcha chief, while Nirmala Kishore from Eluru has been made the mahila morcha president. Sashibhushan Reddy from Kadapa will be the Kisan Morcha chief, while G Devanand (Hindupur), Bitra Shivanarayana (Narsaraopet), K Umamaheswara Rao (Aruku) and SK Baji (Vijayawada) will be heads of state SC, OBC, ST and minority morchas respectively.
Pudi Tirupathi Rao from Srikakulam, Suhasini Anand from Visakhapatnam, Chandu Sambasiva Rao from Guntur, K Anjaneya Reddy from Nellore, and Samanchi Srinivas and Bhanu Prakash Reddy from Tirupati were appointed as spokerspersons.Meanwhile, Somu Veerraju appointed M Ramachandrudu as the party’s Chittoor district president.