STudenT leader Gunned down in ManiPur

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. IMPHAL: Suspected militants gunned down a student leader here in Manipur and the police, fearing a students’ agitation, have launched a massive manhunt to nab the killers, an official said on Saturday. So far, no group has claimed responsibility for the attack. President of the Haokip Students’ Organisation Letkholal Haokip was shot dead outside his home at Langol near here on Friday night. The 40-year-old leader had just got out of his jeep when he was attacked from close range. Haokip sustained fatal bullet injuries. His neighbours rushed him to the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences here, but he could not be saved. The gunmen who came in a car managed to escape. Officials said there were indications that the students might resort to a stir.

The reshuffle of the Union Cab i n e t , which is expected to take place after the new President is sworn in after 20 July, is likely to see key changes, with some of the heavyweight ministries like defence, external affairs and health witnessing a change of guard.

BJP party sources said that the reshuffle—which has been necessitated because of various reasons including the movement of former Union ministers to states, expiry of Rajya Sabha terms and the upcoming Assembly elections in various states—will be the last such exercise before the country goes to the polls in May 2019. The Ministry of Defence, which is presently with Arun Jaitley, who is also handling the Ministry of Finance, is likely to be given to an existing minister, who will be divested of his existing responsibility.

“All the capable senior and experienced men that we can use are already work-