BJP chief Amit Shah announces new team; Yeddyurappa included, no place for Varun Gandhi

Zee Media Bureau/Tarun Khanna

New Delhi: Days after being ratified as the Bharatiya Janata Party`s president, Amit Shah on Saturday announced the list of party`s new office bearers which includes several members under the age of 50. The BJP chief has appointed 11 vice presidents, 8 general secretaries, 14 secretaries and 10 national spokespersons. The names of new BJP VPs are B Dattatray, BS Yeddyurappa, Satpal Malik, MA Naqvi, P Ruppala, Prabhat Jha, Raghuvar Das, Kiran Maheswari, Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, Renu Devi and Dinesh Sharma. Meanwhile, the list of 8 general secretaries includes JP Nadda, RP Rudy, Muralidhar Rao, Ram Madhav, Saroj Pandey, Bhupendra Yadav, RS Kateria and Ram Lal. Besides these, Shahanawaz Hussain, Sudhanshu Trivedi, Meenakshi Lekhi, Sambit Patra, MJ Akbar, Nalin Kohli, BS Shastri, GVLN Rao, Anil Baluni and L Kumarmangalam will be party`s national spokespersons. “The new BJP team is experienced and 60 percent of its office bearers are under 50. We have included the representatives of all the states and communities,” said BJP leader JP Nadda. While Abdul Rashid Ansari will continue as the BJP Minority Morcha chief, BJP leader Anurag Thakur remain Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha chief. “I`m sure that Amit Shah will deliver his promises made to the youth,” said Thakur.

I thank Amit Shah ji, promises made to the youth will be fulfilled: Anurag Thakur(BJYM chief) on Amit Shah's new team pic.twitter.com/UxXoKSTnt0

— ANI (@ANI_news) August 16, 2014

The BJP Mahila Morcha chief will be Vijaya Rahatkar. On the other hand, rumours are doing the rounds that the new BJP chief has dropped Varun Gandhi`s name from the list. 34-year-old Varun Gandhi was given the post of General Secretary last year. He is presently an MP from Sultanpur in Uttar Pradesh. Although his mother Maneka Gandhi is a minister in Modi government, Varun has not been given any alternative post in the newly formed BJP team. “Team formed by Amit bhai is excellent, full of youth and experience. We will work with enthusiasm,” told Shahnawaz Hussain to ANI. The focus of the new team will remain on leading the BJP to victory in states which will go to polls in near future.