Shah set to reconstitute BJP's top bodies

New Delhi, Sept 15: An overhaul of the BJP Parliamentary Board, the highest-decision making body in the party, and the Central Election Committee (CEC) is on the cards with the exit of M Venkaiah idu after his election as the country’s Vice President. Speculation is rife over the possible induction of Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and General Secretary Ram Madhav into the Parliamentary Board. After becoming Vice President, idu is no longer a Bharatiya Jata Party member and hence his elevation to the second top constitutiol post has caused vacancies in both the bodies.

Sources in the BJP said party President Amit Shah wants to replace idu with a south Indian face and is believed to have mooted the me of Sitharaman. But this has not gone well with a section of top leaders, who feel they have not been taken into confidence on the issue. This section is also miffed that it was not consulted when former Minister of State for HRD Mahendra th Pandey was appointed the Uttar Pradesh BJP chief. The issue also figured in a meeting on Wednesday evening of senior leaders including Home Minister Rajth Singh, Fince Minister Arun Jaitley, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari and Exterl Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.

Under the BJP constitution, Shah would have to nomite one among the present general secretaries as Secretary of the Board. Among the eight general secretaries, Ram Madhav, also from the south, looks like being selected for the job, the sources said. Shah also needs to reconstitute the CEC, which filises the mes of candidates for elections to state assemblies, Parliament and other bodies. idu was also a member of the CEC. Reconstitution of these top bodies looks imminent as seven states - Gujarat, Kartaka, Himachal Pradesh, galand, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram - are due to go to the polls.

Another area where Shah is likely to focus attention is on the reconstitution of office bearers in the BJP headquarters here. (IANS)

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