Shah to unveil new team in 15 days

BJP chief Amit Shah will announce his new team before party’s conclave here on March 19-20. Got a second chance on January 24 to lead the party – for full three year term – Shah is discussing his team with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and RSS representatives in the BJP.

BJP chief Amit Shah will announce his new team before party’s conclave on March 19-20. Got a second chance on January 24 to lead the party – for full three year term – Shah is discussing his team with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and RSS representatives in the BJP.

BJP chief Amit Shah will announce his new team before party’s conclave on March 19-20. Got a second chance on January 24 to lead the party – for full three year term – Shah is discussing his team with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and RSS representatives in the BJP. (Sonu Mehta/ HT Photo)

The team of national office bearers includes maximum 13 vice president, 9 general secretaries and 15 general secretaries. “An announcement of the team is expected by the second week of March. New faces will be inducted,” a source told HT.

Shah is expected to strike the missing regional balance in his next team. Currently, the BJP has Ram Madhav, Bhupendra Yadav, Kailash Vijayvargiya, P Muralidhar Rao, Saroj Pandey, Arun Singh and Anil Jain as general secretaries.

“Two of them could be dropped,” said a party source privy to the deliberation. A scheduled caste leader could also be inducted as general secretary. This community had not representation in the present team.

Except for Saroj Pandey and Vijayavargiya, none of general secretaries have contested a direct election. Yadav is a member of the Rajya Sabha.

Party’s youth wing, currently led by three-time Lok Sabha MP Anurag Thakur, is likely to get a new head. Given the assignment in 2010, Thakur (41) is longest serving chief of BJP’s Yuva Morcha and is tipped for a promotion within the organization.

Sources claimed that Shah may keep some of the post vacant for future requirement that may arise following the impending reshuffle of the cabinet post budget session.

While union minister Sarbananda Sonowal has already been sent to Assam as president of State BJP, junior railway minister Manoj Sinha is in contention to head the party in Uttar Pradesh.