Dropped as chief ministers and central ministers, top BJP leaders get NEW ROLES in party

These appointments hold significance as a large number of senior leaders, who had no organisational post currently, have now been given new responsibilities. Some others like Patra`s stature have been elevated in the party.

New Delhi: Several top BJP leaders, who were earlier replaced as chief ministers or dropped as Union Ministers, have now been given new and important roles within the party. According to reports, many senior BJP leaders, including former chief ministers Vijay Rupani and Biplab Kumar Deb besides former Union ministers Prakash Javadekar and Mahesh Sharma, have been given organisational roles and appointed in-charges of party affairs in different states.

The BJP also named its general secretary Vinod Tawde as its new in-charge for Bihar, where the party recently lost power after JD(U) snapped ties with it. Mangal Pandey, its former Bihar minister, will look after West Bengal.

Harish Dwivedi will continue to be co-incharge for Bihar and the party's IT cell head Amit Malviya for West Bengal. BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra has been given an important organisational responsibility. He has been named coordinator for eight north-eastern states and party's national secretary Rituraj Sinha as joint coordinator, the BJP said in a statement.

The appointments hold significance as a large number of senior leaders, who had no organisational post currently, have now been given new responsibilities. Some others like Patra's stature have been elevated in the party.

Rupani will be in-charge of Punjab and Chandigarh, Deb for Haryana and Javadekar will look after party work in Kerala. Incidentally, both Gujarat and Tripura are heading for assembly polls and the party's decision to give new responsibilities to Rupani and Deb may have been driven by the BJP's desire to keep its affairs in order in their home states.

Senior party leader and member of its central election committee Om Mathur will be in-charge of the party's affairs in Chhattisgarh and its former Uttar Pradesh unit president Laxmikant Bajpai will look after the work in Jharkhand.

Former Union minister and party MP Mahesh Sharma has been made in-charge of Tripura, another MP Vinod Sonkar will look after party work in two Union territories -- Dadra Nagra Haveli and Daman Diu.

Recently elected Rajya Sabha member of BJP Radha Mohan Agarwal will be its in-charge for Lakshadweep. Meanwhile, BJP general secretary Arun Singh will continue to be its in-charge of Rajasthan and P Muralidhar Rao for Madhya Pradesh.

The party has also appointed some co-incharges - its national secretary Narinder Singh Raina for Punjab, Arvid Menon for Telangana, Vijay Rahatkar for Telangana and Asha Lakra for West Bengal. While the party's national secretary Pankaja Munde and Ram Shankar Katheria will continue to be co in-charges for Madhya Pradesh, Nitin Nabin for Chhattisgarh.