By Aditi Raja
The Bharatiya Janata Party’s Gujarat unit Thursday declared the much-awaited names of the new presidents of most of the district and city units of the party, nearly six weeks after carrying out the “sense taking” exercise.
Of the total 35 presidents, including six cities, at least 22 leaders with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) background have been handed out the task of “strengthening the organisation”, in the wake of the factional wars in several parts of the state, according to the sources.
In the appointments so far, only one is a woman, Binaben Kothari, who has been appointed the president of Jamnagar city unit, and is a former general secretary of the party’s Mahila Morcha. In Vadodara city, the party opted for Jay Prakash Soni, who has strong RSS roots and has completed the Third Year Sangh Shiksha Varg (SSV).Soni is also the former Vadodara city Karyavah (general secretary) of the RSS and was recently serving as registrar of the Kundhela campus of the Central University of Gujarat. Party leaders said that he resigned from the post of registrar at the insistence of RSS brass and the BJP to take up the post of city president in Vadodara.
Soni’s appointment comes in wake of factionalism in the city unit, where leaders have been “seen indulging in public spats”— the most recent one to occur was during the “sense taking process” of the party when former deputy mayor Sunita Shukla and former corporator Gopi Talati indulged in a public argument. A BJP senior leader on the condition of anonymity said, “In most of the units, the picks are those who can keep the flock together as they do not belong to any faction to begin with. Most of the names have come as a ‘surprise’ to the local units but the party has sent out a message that those indulging in factional wars will not gain. Also, bringing in fresh faces, who have not been too vocal in the areas gives a chance to receive a new perspective to the party.”
Spotlight on OBC leaders
Like Vadodara city, the BJP has also made a significant change in Bharuch and Narmada districts that also have a dominant tribal population. Departing from the usual norm of appointing a Patidar or Kshatriya leader, the party chose OBC leaders to head the district units of Narmada and Bharuch— a first-time move. While 37-year-old Neel Rao has been chosen to head the Narmada district unit, for the Bharuch district unit, the party has picked a lawyer, Prakash Modi, who has formerly held the post of the Bharuch district and city legal cell of the party. Rao, currently a general secretary with the Narmada District unit, also has RSS roots and has completed the RSS’s Second Year SSV. He is married to the niece of former Nandod BJP MLA Shabdasharan Tadvi. According to the senior leaders familiar with the developments, Rao has been picked for the tribal district to “influence the youth” as he is the former district vice president of the Yuva Morcha.
This story was originally published in indianexpress.com. Read the full story here.
