Other States - Rajasthan   

Women get token presence in BJP team

Sunny Sebastian

Most of the dissenting groups kept out of the new executive committee and office-bearers

JAIPUR: The Bharatiya Janata Party leadership has seemingly made use of the existing moratorium on partymen in speaking aloud on party matters -- in the light of the Presidential elections -- to announce a rather one-sided executive committee of the Rajasthan unit here the other day. And as expected, despite the brewing discontent, none has spoken so far.

The new executive committee and the team of office bearers which would lead the party in the Assembly elections due next year in the State has kept out most of the dissenting groups within the State BJP. It has accommodated little known persons said to be belonging to the camp of Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and State president Mahesh Sharma.

The partymen here point out that it has become a frequent practice for the BJP leadership to call for moratorium on making known one’s differences with the leadership in public. The previous occasion when the partymen were asked to wait was during the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.

Curiously enough the first State executive, to be announced after the recent national executive of the BJP resolving to have 33 per cent women in the party organization, has glossed over the “bold” pronouncement, apparently made to counter the pro-woman sentiments generated by the UPA-Left supporting the first winnable woman candidate for the post of President. There are only six women in a team of about 70 persons.

The party is not even apologetic about it. The State BJP spokesperson Kailashnath Bhatt explained that setting aside 33 per cent of the posts for women was only a proposal before the national executive. The idea would take a definite shape only after a committee, headed by Sushma Swaraj, makes a similar proposal and forwards it to the national executive for approval, he said.

The new committee, which came almost five months late, has seven vice-presidents -- Nandlal Meena, Nathu Singh Gujjar, Saroj Kumari, Srichand Kripalani MP, Arun Chaturvedi and Rajendra Kumar Gehlot -- and four general secretaries including Prakash Chand, who is in charge of organization. Kailash Bhansali is the State treasurer.

Most of the party’s known faces are missing though senior leaders Harishankar Bhabra, Lalit Kishore Chaturvedi, Bhanwarlal Sharma, K.K.Goyal, Raghuveer Singh Kaushal and Gulab Chand Kataria find a place as ordinary members in the committee. The new executive committee, it is being pointed out, has good number of members from the RSS but care has been taken to pick up the favourites and to keep out the vocal ones who supported the dissident groups.

Those who have been divested of the positions they were holding previously include V.P.Singh MP, Santosh Ahlawat (both vice presidents) Satish Punia (general secretary), Rao Rajendra Singh and Nirmala Choudhary (both secretaries). Mr.Punia, who belongs to the rival camp, has been given the charge of front organizations. Madan Lal Saini has been appointed as the chairman of the disciplinary committee in the place of Kailash Meghwal MP.

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