New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday made major organisational changes in its parliamentary committee, as it dropped Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari from the board as well as the Central Election Committee. The move arrives ahead of the 2024 General Elections as well as several Assembly Elections preceding it.
A party leader, on condition of anonymity, said that Gadkari's work was itself a campaign for the government and the party, adding that it did not matter whether he was in any committee or not. The omission of both Gadkari, who is considered close to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), and Chouhan, indicate the party's outreach to as many social and regional groups as possible.
The new entrants into the parliamentary committee include, among others, former Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa. The move assumes significance, especially ahead of the Karnataka polls in 2023, as the party tries to correct caste equations in the state after it replaced the formidable Lingayat leader with Basavaraj Bommai back in 2021.
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Apart from this, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, former Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal, Telangana BJP leader K Laxman and the first Sikh representative, Iqbal Singh Lalpura, have all been included in the apex body.
All members of the parliamentary committee automatically become part of the CEC. The parliamentary board already includes Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and BJP National President JP Nadda as permanent members.
In the election committee, meanwhile, newcomers are Rajasthan BJP leader Om Mathur, Women's Wing chief Vanathi Srinivasan and Bhupender Yadav. Fadnavis' inclusion in CEC, notably, denotes his increased stature within the saffron camp after the political upheaval in Maharashtra earlier this year, which ended with the NDA government returning to power in the Western state.
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Former union ministers Jual Oram and Shahnawaz Hussain have been axed from the CEC. After the rejigging, the parliamentary board now has 11 members, while the election committee has 15 leaders.
