BJP starts reorganisation exercise at the state level

MANDATE 2004

Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi yesterday said a large-scale revamp of the party structure was in the offing.

Nearly 80 national executive members and 20 national officebearers are to be re-elected and state units, which haven't had organisational elections yet, are also to be revamped.

"These elections could not be held on time because of the announcement of the general elections, now that this is over, we are going to hold elections to the party posts," he said.

States where elections are to be held include Bihar, Jharkhand, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. In some places like Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, while state unit presidents had been elected, the team had yet to be put in place.

"This process will be started soon," said Naqvi. With many top leaders of the party having lost elections, the party organisation will have to make space for them.

These include leaders like Yashwant Sinha, Murli Manohar Joshi and Ram Naik. Senior leaders like Sushma Swaraj and Kalyan Singh will also be given posts in the party organisation.

Naqvi also took a dig at the ongoing government formation exercise. "In the last few days, we have been witness to emotion, suspense, tragedy and high voltage drama, no sooner had we got to the end of it when a new drama of Congress and its allies like Laloo Yadav got underway," said Naqvi.

"This is just the trailer, the real film will start when the government starts working," he said.

Commenting on the Karnataka elections, Naqvi said that although neither the Congress nor the BJP had got the majority in the Assembly, the fact remained that it was an anti-Congress verdict.

"The Congress, being in power, has been decisively voted out but is trying to subvert the will of the people," he said.