Shah to give Team BJP a facelift ahead of 2019 general election

NEWDELHI: The resignation of six ministers from the Narendra Modi government and the Sunday expansion of his council of ministers also set in motion the revamp of the BJP.

K al raj Mis hr a, Band aruDatt atrey a, Raj iv Pr a tap Rudy, Ma hendra Nat hP andey,Sanj iv Balyan and Faggan Singh Kulaste re signed as ministers ahead of the Sunday reshuffle.

BJP sources said party president Amit Shah was expected to replace some leaders of his team with new faces, an exercise aimed at fine-tuning the organisation ahead of the 2019 polls.

Rudy and Balyan could be brought in as national general secretaries of the party, sources said. The party can have a maximum of 13 vice presidents, nine general secretaries and 15 secretaries. At present, Shah’s team has seven vice-presidents and general secretaries each and 11 secretaries. Five of the seven general secretaries have never contested a direct election.

VACANCIES

The vacancy in the team was created following party leaders taking up ministerial jobs in states.

BJP secretaries Siddharth Na th Singh,M ah end ra Sing hand Sh rik an tS harm a became ministers inUtt ar Pradesh.

The B JP also appointed junior H RD minister Ma hen dr aP andey as the chief of its UP unit in place of K es ha vP ra sad Maury a, who is now a deputy chief minister.

Party’ s national vice president Dinesh Sharma, too, has been appointed deputy CM. He was the in charge of Gujarat. Jharkhand in charge T riven dr a Sing hR a wat became the Uttarakhand CM.