NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party in Delhi on Friday appointed nine more spokespersons, all of them being young and belonging to diverse professional backgrounds, including a lawyer, social activist and an informational technology specialist.
The development surprised many in the party as the local unit of the saffron outfit already has a posse of experienced and senior spokespersons to communicate or present its stance on different platforms. With the nine new inductions, the Delhi BJP has now 21 spokespersons, equal to the strength of its team of office-bearers.
In October, Delhi BJP Adesh Kumar Gupta announced a team of 12 spokespersons with Laxmi Nagar MLA Abhay Kumar Verma as its chief. A section of Delhi BJP leaders said the fresh appointments were apparently an attempt to “appease” all fractions and accommodate names recommended by senior leaders.
“For the first time, the party in Delhi has got a huge team, which is not required actually. The national team has 23 members and in Delhi, Gupta has appointed 21 spokespersons. It shows that the state leadership has tried to oblige a few senior leaders. We were hoping for two-three appointments but didn’t expect nine new spokespersons,” a senior party functionary said.
Another leader said many office-bearers were not even aware about the appointments till late on Friday evening. “Most of them are considered closed to former party vice president Shyam Jaju and general secretary (organisation) Siddharthan,” he said.
The new spokespersons are Virender Babbar, Puja Suri, Khemchand Sharma, Brajesh Rai, Sarika Jain, Neha Shalini Dua, Nighat Abbas, Ajay Sehrawat and Shubendra Shekhar Awasti. Gupta didn’t respond to calls and messages. But party general secretary Harshdeep Malhotra said the appointments should not be
seen “differently.”