BJP drops Gadkari, Chouhan from parliamentary board; inducts BSY, 5 others

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday reshuffled its apex decision-making body, the parliamentary board, dropping two important members — Union minister Nitin Gadkari and chief minister of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chouhan. New members were inducted, taking its strength to 15 from 12.

Important election and candidate-related decisions are taken by the parliamentary board.

It had a large number of vacancies after the death of Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, Ananth Kumar and the elevation of Venkaiah Naidu as vice-president and Thawar Chand Gehlot as Karnataka Governor.

The parliamentary board works in tandem with the Central Election Committee (CEC) and members of the board are also members of the CEC.

No member of the parliamentary board has really been dropped, said a BJP leader from Delhi. But when vacancies arise, they are filled up from among appropriate persons available.

The BJP’s organising secretary, ‘lent’ by the RSS to the BJP, is ex-officio member of the parliamentary board.

Accordingly, BL Santhosh finds a place on the parliamentary board, but the addition of former Karnataka chief minister BS Yediyurappa is a balancing factor.

Both of them are from Karnataka’s Shimoga district and have been RSS workers.

Yediyurappa had briefly left the BJP in 2012 to form his own party, the Karnataka Janata Paksha.

While his party was not much of an electoral success, his exit influenced the outcome of the 2013 Karnataka Assembly elections in which the BJP could not form the government. Karnataka will go to assembly polls in 2023.

Iqbal Singh Lalpura, the first Sikh to find a place on the parliamentary board is a new member. His inclusion shows that the BJP’s break from the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) is complete. Lalpura is a former IPS officer, who joined the BJP after retiring from service.

K Lakshman, who joined the BJP in 1980 and is from Telangana — a region where the BJP sees growth — is a new member. He made his way up in the organisation via the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). Lakshman is also the president of the BJP’s other backward classes (OBC) wing.

Sudha Yadav, another new entrant, is from Haryana and has a PhD from IIT Roorkee. When Narendra Modi was BJP general secretary of Haryana, Yadav contested the Lok Sabha election for the first time, and was pressed for resources.

On that occasion, Modi reached into his pocket, took out Rs 11 that his mother had given him some years ago, and donated that for Yadav’s election campaign. He asked all present to empty their pockets of all cash except their fare back, and contribute. Yadav recalled that within 30 minutes, her election campaign fund had swelled to Rs 7.5 lakh.

Satyanarayan Jatiya from Madhya Pradesh is a Dalit, who was labour minister in the Atal Behari Vajpayee government.

Sarbanand Sonowal’s inclusion is a reward for not protesting after being uprooted from Assam. But it would make Himanta Biswa Sarma wary. The Assam chief minister’s political fortunes have been soaring since he joined the BJP from the Congress a few years ago.

By these inclusions, the BJP has ensured social and regional balance.

The CEC was also revamped with the inclusion of Union minister Bhupender Yadav, Om Mathur, and BJP women’s wing chief Vanathi Srinivasan. Bihar leader Shahnawaz Husain and tribal leader Juel Oraon have been dropped from the CEC.

“Gadkari’s exclusion and Devendra Fadnavis’s inclusion in the CEC tells its own story,” said a BJP leader. 

Board rejigs since 2010

2010: 

President: N Gadkari  

­­­Members: Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L K Advani, M M Joshi, Venkaiah Naidu, Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Bal Apte

Out: Sanjay Joshi, Organising secretary, who was dropped from his position

2013: 

President: Rajnath Singh

In: Narendra Modi (back after six years, the only CM), Ananth Kumar, Thawar Chand Gehlot, Ram Lal

Members: Atal Behari Vajpayee, MM Joshi, L K Advani, Venkaiah Naidu, Nitin Gadkari, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley

Out: No one - no vacancies

2014: 

President: Rajnath Singh

In: Amit Shah, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, JP Nadda

Members: Narendra Modi , Rajnath, Jaitley, Venkaiah Naidu, Sushma Swaraj, Nitin Gadkari, Ananth  Kumar, Gehlot,  Ram Lal

Out: Murli Manohar Joshi and L K Advani, made part of Margdarshak Mandal

2014-16: 

President: Amit Shah

Members: Modi, Shah, Rajnath, Jaitley, Venkaiah,  Sushma, Gadkari, Ananth Kumar, Gehlot, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, J P Nadda, Ram Lal

2016-19: 

President: Amit Shah

In: BL Santhosh

Members: Modi, Shah, Rajnath, Gadkari,  Shivraj Singh Chouhan, J P Nadda

Out: Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Ananth Kumar pass away. Gehlot becomes Governor Venkaiah Vice-President

2020: 

President: JP Nadda

In: B S Yediyurappa, K Laxman, Satyanarayan Jatiya, Sarbananda Sonowal, Iqbal Singh Lalpura, Sudha Yadav  

Members: Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, J P Nadda, B L Santhosh, Rajnath Singh 

Out: Nitin Gadkari, Shivraj Singh Chouhan