The Hindu : New Delhi News : Vijay Goel appointed BJP general secretary

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Saturday, Apr 19, 2008
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New Delhi

Vijay Goel appointed BJP general secretary

Special Correspondent

Vijay Goel

NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party president, Rajnath Singh, on Friday appointed Vijay Goel as party general secretary. He also inducted three women vice-presidents and three women secretaries.

The new vice-presidents are Jayawanti Ben Mehta (Maharashtra), Anita Arya (Delhi) and Vijaya Chakravorty (Assam).

The new party secretaries are Sudha Yadav, Saroj Pandey and Smriti Irani.

Mr. Goel had won the Chandni Chowk Lok Sabha seat in 1998 and 1999 and the Sadar constituency in 1996. He was Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office during the Vajpayee government’s tenure.

Mr. Goel fills the vacancy caused by Om Mathur’s appointment as the State unit president of the BJP in Rajasthan.

By inducting Mr. Goel, Mr. Singh has tried to give a boost to the party’s electoral prospects in Delhi where Assembly elections are due later this year.

Mr. Goel belongs to the influential and numerically strong trader community. Traditionally, the BJP has had a strong base among traders.

Ms. Arya is a former mayor of Delhi.

At the last National Council of the party held in Delhi, the party had amended its constitution to give 33 per cent reservation to women in party positions.

Women’s representation

It was then expected that Mr. Singh would fill the one vacant position of general secretary with a woman.Currently, however, the BJP does not have even one woman general secretary.

Party leaders said the number of general secretaries will be increased by two to accommodate women. However, Mr. Singh has increased women’s representation by inducting three women each for positions as vice-presidents and secretaries.

Simultaneously, he has Mr. Singh also inducted four new women members of the party’s national executive, including Sangeeta Singh Deo and Sukhda Pandey.

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