State elections, regional outreach among key reasons for BJP rejig

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s new team of national office bearers has some surprises, but the composition of the team is in line with the party’s established approach of always keeping an eye on elections, rewarding those who join the fold, and focusing on communication and outreach.

Almost 60% of the team is new, and the 70-member team has 12 women as well as representatives from scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and Other Backward Classes. an indication that the party is already in election mode and preparing for major poll battles in states such as West Bengal and Kerala.

Representatives from the election-bound states of Bihar, West Bengal and Kerala are conspicuous by their presence, which took over nine months to finalise. A notable exclusion is that of functionaries from Tamil Nadu, which also goes to polls in 2021.

The party has pitched itself as a contender for the seat of power in West Bengal; it has dislodged the Congress as the prime opponent of the Pinarayi Vijayan government in Kerala.

In Tamil Nadu, where its chances of becoming a strong political force is still weak, there is speculation that it is trying to bring together warring

AIADMK factions.

The regional balance and the outreach towards the North Eastern states has also been ensured with the naming of two representatives from Nagaland.

While well known faces from the South, Ram Madhav and Murlidhar Rao have been dropped as national general secretaries; representation has been maintained through the nomination of representatives from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana.