From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari (65), an inside challenger to Narendra Modi and itching to be the Prime Minister in any case after him, was on Wednesday shown the door as he as well as Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan (63) for the third term were dropped from the BJP Parliamentary Board, the party’s highest decision-making body.
The major organisational reshuffle decided by BJP President Jagat Prakash Nadda, in cousultation with Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, is a clear message to Gadkari, a former BJP President from Nagpur supposed to be close to the RSS leadership, to contain his ambitions. Chouhan’s removal from the parliamentary board is seen as a hint of his removal as the Chief Minister before the next Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh.
Six new faces inducted in the parliamentary board are former Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa (79), union minister Sarvanand Sonowal from Assam, BJP OBC Morcha head Dr K Laxman (66) from Telangana, former Punjab IPS officer and chairman of the National Minority Commission Iqbal Singh Lalpura (69), who joined the BJP in 2012 and unsuccessfully contested the Punjab Assembly election, former Union Minister Satyanarayan Jatiya (76), a Dalit leader from Ujjain in MP who was elected to the Lok Sabha for seven terms and one term in the Rajya Sabha, and national secretary Sudha Yadav (57) from Haryana.
Five leaders who continue in the parliamentary board are BJP President Nadda (61), national general secretary B L Santosh (53) borrowed from RSS, Modi (71), defence minister Rajnath Singh (71) and Amit Shah (57).
Also reshuffled is the 15-member Central Election Committee, which has the 11 members of the Parliamentary board besides Maharashtra Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, national general secretary and union minister Bhupender Yadav, national vice president Om Mathur as new members while Shahnawaz Hussain has been dropped.
