With the issue of selection of the Presidential candidate sealed, the BJP leadership is likely to start discussions on a long-pending organisational reshuffle, which, according to sources, may happen next month. The new team will be formed keeping in mind the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, and will have a mix of experienced and young leaders with proper representation from all sections of society.
The reshuffle has been necessitated with many office-bearers becoming ministers and with vacancies for Governors. Sources also said that there could be changes in the Central Election Committee, the Parliamentary Board and the National Executive as well. It is also speculated that some leaders from the Union Cabinet may be sent to the organisation. In fact, both the Cabinet and organisational reshuffles are interlinked.
Five vacancies have arisen following the BJP coming to power in Uttar Pradesh. National vice president Dinesh Sharma has become Deputy Chief Minister, while secretaries Shrikant Sharma, Sidharth Nath Singh, Mahendra Singh and OBC Morcha president Dara Singh Chouhan have become ministers in the Yogi Adiyanath Cabinet.
Dinesh Sharma was in-charge of Gujarat, while Shrikant Sharma in-charge of Himachal Pradesh. Both the states are going for elections later this year and therefore these are likely to get new in-charges. Similarly, Sidharth Nath Singh was in-charge of West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh, while Mahendra Singh was in-charge of Assam. The party will have to appoint new in-charges for these states.
The party is also likely to appoint a new state president in UP following Keshav Prasad Maurya taking over as Deputy Chief Minister. In Karnataka, the BJP recently appointed B.S. Yeddyurappa as the state president.
Party sources said that, contrary to perception, the party may not change Chief Ministers in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. However, the party may go for rethinking on Jharkhand based on Ram Madhav’s report. Madhav had recently gone to Ranchi to gauge the mood of party workers following reports of resentment against Chief Minister Raghubar Das. Sources said a change of guard is not ruled out and the state may get a tribal Chief Minister.
Amit Shah, soon after taking over as BJP president in August 2014, had appointed 11 vice presidents. Out of them, Bandaru Dattatreya, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Kiran Maheshwari and Raghubar Das have joined the government at the Centre or in states. Three general secretaries—J.P. Nadda, Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Ramashankar Katheria—too have joined the Central government. Shah was re-elected as president for a full term in January 2016. However, he has not completed his full team till now.