The Hindu : New Delhi News : 3 State BJP presidents replaced

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Saturday, Jul 11, 2009
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New Delhi

3 State BJP presidents replaced

Neena Vyas

Reorganisation at the central level to take some time

Changes are in the pipeline in Delhi, Uttarakhand and Punjab
New ‘prabharis’ may be announced for Karnataka, U.P., Bihar and Delhi

NEW DELHI: The process of revamping the Bharatiya Janata Party organisation after the Lok Sabha poll debacle has begun, with party president Rajnath Singh accepting the resignations of three State party presidents and replacing them. Although at the central level, reorganisation may have to await completion of organisational polls in the party — the process could take six to eight months — a beginning has been made with States where the party’s performance was far below expectation.

Rajasthan party president Om Mathur’s resignation has been accepted. The BJP won only 4 of the 25 Lok Sabha seats from the State. Current State vice-president and spokesperson Arun Chaturvedi will be the new party chief in the desert State. In Haryana, where the party failed to win a single seat despite its alliance with the Indian National Lok Dal, Mr. Rajnath Singh accepted the resignation of State party president Atma Prakash Manchanda. He has been replaced by Krishnapal Gurjar, a former Minister.

In Himachal Pradesh, where the BJP performed reasonably well, winning 3 of the 4 Lok Sabha seats, the reason for accepting the resignation of State president Jaya Ram Thakur was different. Mr. Thakur has now been inducted as a Minister in the State government. Since the BJP pursues one-man, one-post policy, he resigned from his position as State party chief. He has been replaced by Khimi Ram, a former Deputy Speaker.

Changes are in the pipeline in Delhi, Uttarakhand and Punjab. In Delhi and Uttarakhand, the BJP failed to win even a single Lok Sabha, seat while in Punjab it won one of three seats it contested. It is reliably learnt that Om Prakash Kohli (Delhi party chief), Bachi Singh Rawat (Uttarakhand State president) and Rajinder Bhandari (Punjab State unit head) will be replaced sooner or later. In Uttarakhand, the former Chief Minister B.C. Khanduri had to put in his papers to make way for Ramesh Pokhriyal. That change was made after the poll results, with Mr. Khanduri’s detractors in the State making a point of the party’s zero score in the Lok Sabha election. New ‘prabharis’ (leaders in charge of political affairs in the relevant State) are expected to be announced for Karnataka, U.P., Bihar and Delhi as these positions are currently vacant.

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