Major revamp in BJP and Union ministry likely soon

Months after being elected president of the Bharatiya Janata Party, J.P. Nadda is all set to have his own team.

A top source told THE WEEK that Nadda was taking major steps to give a revamp to the organisation ahead of the assembly polls in Bihar and five other states due next year.

According to sources, a number of general secretaries might be replaced by new and “effective” faces. Many “idle” leaders might have to be repositioned.

The list has already been prepared and would be released by Nadda later this week or next week.

Besides Bihar, other states which go to polls next year are: West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry.

According to sources, a new general secretary would be appointed for the entire northeast, eyeing the polls in Assam. In Northeast, Tripura may be given a new state-in-charge. Sunil Deodhar, who steered the victory of the party in 2018, is now in-charge of Andhra Pradesh.

Sources said the BJP will appreciate the hard work of its leaders in Telengana, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh, especially during the last Lok Sabha elections. 

While the party did exceptionally well in Telegana, in Andhra Pradesh, it booted Chandrababu Naidu out of power. Naidu wanted to split the NDA before the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

If sources are to be believed, Mukul Roy is going to get a major recognition in the party from West Bengal. He might be considered in the upcoming reshuffle of the Union cabinet. A cabinet expansion is required following the withdrawal of the Shiv Sena ministers. With chances of Shiv Sena's returning to Union cabinet remain bleak, Prime Minister Narendra Modi might give a much-needed shake up to his cabinet as he completed one year at office in the second term. 

Many important portfolios could be changed and that may happen sooner than later.

The idea to reward Roy came from the fact that he is the ace strategist for the party in West Bengal where it is going to play a major role in 2021. 

"Also, he faces a lot of threats from TMC cadres. So it might be wise for the party to safeguard him," said a BJP leader. 

BJP West Bengal president Dilip Ghosh said on Tuesday, "I am not in-charge of the party at national level. If Mukul da or any other leader from Bengal becomes minister, I would be extremely happy."

Like Roy, Kailash Vijayvargiya, the party’s state in-charge, can also be rewarded. Besides West Bengal, Vijayvargiya played a crucial role in Madhya Pradesh recently in bringing back the party to power.

West Bengal is likely to get a couple more co-in-charges. There will be a new in-charge for Kerala as well. Unlike West Bengal, the party is not expecting to come to power in Kerala, but it wants to come up as a solid opposition face in the state. 

Sources said there will be many changes in the leadership. Some will be sent to the council of ministers and some might be dropped in order to send good signal to them that “either perform or make way for others”.