Amit Shah expected to induct new faces from Uttar Pradesh

NEW DELHI: The BJP is likely to have a younger team of officer-bearers and more representation from states facing assembly polls later this year, with the party’s new national president Amit Shah also expected to induct some new faces from Uttar Pradesh to reward the local leaders who worked with him to pull off an unprecedented performance in the state.

Shah is likely to announce the revamped team in the next few days, people familiar with the exercise said. They added that Shah could pick for the post of general secretary UP state general secretary Swatantra Dev Singh, senior Jharkhand leader Raghubar Das, Devendra Fadnavis or Vinod Tawde from Maharashtra and Sudha Malaiya from Madhya Pradesh.

Ram Madhav is also likely to be appointed as a general secretary. According to a person privy to the matter, the RSS is insistent that Madhav be inducted in the new BJP team so that he can act as a foil to the unhindered authority of Shah.

Ram Lal is likely to continue as general secretary (organisation) and work as a link between the RSS and the party.

At the level of secretaries too, Shah is expected to induct new faces. These include senior RSS pracharak Sunil Deodhar, who had handled Narendra Modi’s campaign in Varanasi; UP leader Mahendra Pandey; BJP’s spokesman in Uttarakhand Anil Baluni and Shrikant Sharma, who has been handling media in the party’s headquarters in Delhi.

Baluni and Sharma are also likely to be designated national spokespersons along with Vani Tripathi, the party’s vibrant face on TV debates.