BJP denies move to switch ministerial, organisational roles

BJP sources are clarifying that there is no large scale move to assign organisational roles to ministers as speculated.

The party changed four state presidents — Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Jharkhand and Punjab — in one day and there are indications that the organisational exercise may pave way for a subsequent cabinet rejig.

In the backdrop of the reshuffle, several Union ministers were seen at the BJP headquarters in Delhi to meet national president JP Nadda.

While it is being speculated that some organisational roles may be given to those ministers who were seen at the party headquarters, top BJP sources told News18 that it is not true. The sources said the cabinet ministers visited the BJP headquarters and met Nadda regarding some crucial party work.

“The Union ministers have been given responsibility of working on weak Lok Sabha seats and that is the feedback they were sharing with the party’s national president,” a source told News18.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav, Science and Technology Minister Kiren Rijiju, Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Law Minister Arjunram Meghwal were some ministers spotted at the party office on Tuesday.

“We just have a few months to go for the Lok Sabha elections and therefore, it is important for the party top leadership to understand the actual situation on ground and what has been the impact of these visits so far,” another source said.

At the beginning of 2023, the BJP began its Lok Sabha Pravas — this being the second leg — and expanded its target of 144 weak Lok Sabha seats to 160. The additional seats were from Bengal and Bihar. The top leadership, including Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, will travel to at least 80 seats each and hold public programmes and public meetings. An entire committee for Lok Sabha Pravas has been formed by the party in which several Union ministers have been given the responsibility of weak seats. Nearly 40 ministers in the government have been assigned four Lok Sabha seats to focus on.

The Lok Sabha Pravas exercise is being coordinated by BJP general secretaries Sunil Bansal and Vinod Tawde along with a team of leaders.

Union ministers who have been assigned to focus on weak Lok Sabha seats include Anurag Singh Thakur, Nirmala Sitharaman, Hardeep Puri, Gajendra Shekhawat, Kiren Rijiju, Sarbananda Sonowal, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Darshana Jardosh, and Rajeev Chandrasekhar among others.

With inputs from News18

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