Ahead of the Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Telangana later this year, BJP president J P Nadda on Saturday made key changes in the party set up, appointing former Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) vice-chancellor Tariq Mansoor as one of the vice-presidents in what is seen as the saffron party’s attempt to woo Pasmanda Muslims.
Former Telangana unit chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar has been inducted in the party as general secretary. Former Union minister Radha Mohan Singh, a Lok Sabha MP from Bihar, has been dropped as a party vice-president.
The new list of office bearers contains the names of 13 vice-presidents, nine general secretaries, including B L Santhosh as the in-charge of the organisation, and 13 secretaries.
The party has dropped C T Ravi, a leader from Karnataka, and Dilip Saikia, a Lok Sabha MP from Assam, as general secretaries with sources suggesting they might be contesting the Lok Sabha polls.
Anil Antony, the son of veteran Congress leader A K Antony, has been made a national secretary of the party. Lakshmikant Bajpai has also been included in the list of national general secretaries.
Rajesh Aggarwal has been given the responsibility of treasurer and Naresh Bansal will be assistant treasurer.
The reshuffle has come close on the heels of the BJP appointing new state presidents in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Punjab and Jharkhand. Party sources said more changes were likely to be affected by party president Nadda in his team as the saffron party gears up for the Lok Sabha elections in 2024.