Rajnath to head BJP’s poll management body

New Delhi, January 8: The BJP on Tuesday sought to end speculations about a tussle between L K Advani and Rajnath Singh on election-related strategies by announcing a central election management committee with Singh as its chairman. The party’s prime ministerial candidate, L K Advani, will take part in the meetings of the committee as and when required, said Sushma Swaraj, while announcing the decision.

An informal meeting, held at Advani’s residence on December 29, and the formation of a sub-group comprising his acolytes, to devise the party’s electoral strategy, had led to speculations that party president Rajnath Singh was being sidelined. Senior leaders who were not invited to the meeting felt slighted and it was decided in a meeting between Advani and Singh on Monday evening to formally declare a committee for election management, involving all senior leaders.

Sushma Swaraj, who was part of the sub-group, said that it has submitted a report to party president on Monday, recommending the constitution of an election management committee along with several other steps to move the party into an “election mode”.

The committee — comprising Jaswant Singh, Murli Manohar Joshi, M Venkaiah Naidu, Sushma Swaraj, V K Malhotra, Bal Apte, Arun Jaitely, Ananth Kumar, Gopinath Munde, Thawarchand Gehlot, Vinay Katuyar, Yashwant Sinha, Ramlal, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Arun Shourie, Ravishanker Prasad, Balbir Punj and Vinay Sahashra Budhe — included all leaders of some consequence in the party.

The committee’s first meeting will be held on January 15 and this will be followed by a meeting of all NDA leaders and its chief ministers around January 25. Swaraj, who will coordinate with NDA partners, said that there’s no move to change NDA convener George Fernandes. Responding to another question, she said Mamata Banerjee is a member of the NDA according to her records and she will be invited for the meeting.

Swaraj said the party will organise meetings with its leaders from states to explore possibilities of finding new partners in each state. The party will hold rallies in every state capital, to be addressed by both Advani and Singh, the details of which will be chalked out in the January 15 meeting.

The election management committee virtually places the party mechanism under Singh. In 1996 and 1999, Advani was the chairman of the campaign committee while A B Vajpayee was projected as the prime minister.

Meanwhile, J Jayalalithaa's AIADMK appears to be all set to enter the NDA. Jaya has invited Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for lunch in Chennai on January 14, the day Tamil Nadu celebrates Pongal. Modi will be in Chennai on that day to attend a seminar being organised by Cho Ramaswamy. On Tuesday, Jaya also telephoned Ravishankar Prasad, party in-charge of the Tamil Nadu, and invited him for the Pongal lunch.

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