Maneka and Varun's leave in BJP's national executive, place for defectors

New delhi date. 7

The BJP has announced a new 70-member national executive ahead of assembly elections in five states, including Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Uttarakhand. BJP president JP Nadda's new team has given special importance to defectors while many old faces have not been given a place, including senior leaders Maneka Gandhi, Varun Gandhi and firebrand leader Vinay Katiyar. The BJP's national executive includes 10 leaders who have recently joined the BJP.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, senior leader LK Advani, Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi, former National President and Union Minister Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Anurag Thakur, Union Minister Piyush Goyal, Leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha and all national office bearers. The BJP will have 20 members in addition to 20 special invitees and 15 permanent invited members in this national executive.

In the BJP's national executive, on the one hand, defectors have been given importance and on the other hand, old leaders have been ousted. Former Union Minister Maneka Gandhi and her son Pilibhit MP Varun Gandhi have not been included in the new executive. Apart from these two leaders, BJP's firebrand leader Vinay Katiyar has also not found a place in the new team. Other leaders removed from the national body include Rao Inderjit Singh, Prahlad Patel, Subramaniam Swamy, Suresh Prabhu, Dushyant Singh, son of former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, Vijay Goyal and SS Ahluwalia. The party is believed to have taken the step as it was unhappy with the leaders.

In Madhya Pradesh, Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, who left the Congress and joined the BJP, has found a place in Nadda's team. Following Scindia, the BJP has succeeded in forming its own government in Madhya Pradesh by ousting the Congress from power. Apart from this, leaders who left the BSP and joined the BJP during the last assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh have also been given a place in Nadda's national executive, including ministers in the yogi government Swami Prasad Maurya, Brijesh Pathak and Dara Singh Chauhan. The three leaders left Mayawati's side and joined the BJP just before the 2014 Uttar Pradesh elections.

Former Union Minister Dinesh Trivedi, who quit the Trinamool Congress and joined the BJP during the West Bengal Assembly elections, and actor and former Rajya Sabha MP Mithun Chakraborty have also been made members of the national executive. Similarly, former chief ministers Vijay Bahuguna and Satyapal Maharaj, who overthrew the Congress in Uttarakhand before the 2014 elections, have also been included in the BJP's national executive.

It is believed that with the Assembly elections coming up in four months, Nadda is playing a game of political equation by giving leaders from the Congress a place in his team. In Uttar Pradesh too, 16 leaders from Uttar Pradesh have been included in the national executive in view of the forthcoming elections. On the other hand, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Harshvardhan and Prakash Javadekar, who were recently removed from the ministry during the expansion of the Modi cabinet, have retained their place in the national executive.