BJP chief Amit Shah to unveil his team today

Ending speculation over the new office bearers of the party, BJP chief Amit Shah will on Saturday announce his team that has been packed with young faces.

Ending speculation over the new office bearers of the party, BJP chief Amit Shah will on Saturday announce his team that has been packed with young faces. The average age of those going to become office bearers has been kept below 50, signalling a generation shift in BJP that has returned to power under Narendra Modi.

Shah took over from Rajnath Singh, now the Union home minister, as the BJP president in July and held detailed consultation with the RSS and party leaders about his team during this period.

BJP’s national team consists of 13 vice presidents, 9 general secretaries, 15 secretaries and a treasurer of whom at least 13 should be women and 3 SCs and STs each. Some of the office bearers from Singh’s previous team have joined the government and they will not be repeated in Shah’s team.

Shah will also announce the composition of parliamentary board — the party’s highest decision making body — the central disciplinary committee and the national executive.

The parliamentary board consists of the BJP president and 10 other members. With Shah’s appointment, who was not a part of the parliamentary board earlier, the existing strength of members has gone up to 12 necessitating the exit of one member. A source said Union minister Ananth Kumar, who also officiated as the secretary, could be dropped.

How Shah deals with the old guard like Atal Bihari Vajpayee, LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi — who are members of the board — will be closely watched.

Lok Sabha MPs Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Varun Gandhi are likely to be retained as general secretaries while Hamirpur MP Anurag Thakur and RSS leader Ram Madhav, who joined the BJP recently, are probable among new faces for general secretary’s post. Shiv Prakash, an RSS pracharak who worked in western UP before joining the BJP, is also tipped to get an important assignment.