Gadkari to announce new team on March 16

A blend of new faces and old hands will make up BJP president Nitin Gadkari’s new team that he will announce on March 16 to end the three-month-long suspense in the party.

A blend of new faces and old hands will make up BJP president Nitin Gadkari’s new team that he will announce on March 16 to end the three-month-long suspense in the party.

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That day marks the beginning of the Hindu New Year.

Those tipped to become general secretaries include former Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje, former Jharkhand CM Arjun Munda, spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad, Orissa leader Dharmendra Pradhan, and Himachal Pradesh minister J.P. Nadda.

While Ananth Kumar, Ram Lal Agarwal and Thwar Chand Gehlot will remain general secretaries, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, who was vice-president in Rajnath Singh’s team, will be made general secretary, BJP sources said. Navjot Singh Sidhu will also become a general secretary, while Yashwant Sinha is expected to remain vice-president.

Among new secretaries, Gadkari is likely to induct Varun Gandhi. Though Varun has sought a bigger profile, his mother Maneka is persuading him to accept the role in view of the assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, the sources said.

Party spokesperson Prakash Javadekar is likely to be elevated as vice-president as are former Uttarakhand chief minister B C Khanduri and former Delhi BJP chief Harshvardhan.

In keeping with the party’s decision to provide 33 per cent reservation to women in the organisation, Gadkari intends to have at least 13 women officer bearers and at least 40 national executive members.