The Bharatiya Janata Party announced its 80-member national executive on Thursday, 7 October, dropping former Union minister Chaudhary Birender Singh and Varun Gandhi, for their sympathetic stands towards the farmers' protest, while making room for fresh faces in the executive. Gandhi’s mother Maneka Gandhi was also removed.
Union ministers Rao Inderjit Singh and Prahlad Patel, MP Subramanian Swamy, Suresh Prabhu, Vasundhara Raje's son Dushyant Singh, Vijay Goel, Vinay Katiyar, and SS Ahluwalia have also not been included in the list.
Reasons for Removal
Both prominent leaders from Haryana, Birender Singh and Rao Inderjit Singh, were removed for their support to the farmers’ cause.
Birender Singh had recently called the Lakhimpur Kheri incident in Uttar Pradesh as “shameful” and had stated that “it should not be taken lightly” as it was “not spontaneous, and there are facts which hint at it being a planned act”, Indian Express reported.
Rao Inderjit Singh was removed as he was seen challenging another Union Minister Bhupender Yadav, who has now been included in the top decision-making body.
Meanwhile, Varun Gandhi’s removal comes amid tweets by him condemning the events of Lakhimpur Kheri and demanding justice for the victims.
On Tuesday, 5 October, Gandhi had shared a purported video of an SUV mowing down farmers and said that the visuals of the vehicles "deliberately running" over farmers are enough to "shake one's soul".
Insiders in the party were quoted as saying, “The latest restructuring of the executive is a clear indication to the heavyweights in the party that only those will be promoted in the organisation who are performance oriented, dedicated and committed to it and its ideology,” The Indian Express reported.
Other Names Added
Union Ministers Jyotiraditya Scindia and Ashwini Vaishnaw and Delhi MP Ramesh Vidhuri have been added to the list, whereas senior leaders like Piyush Goyal, Dharmendra Pradhan and Nirmala Sitharaman have retained their positions.
Union Minister Smriti Irani has made a comeback to the executive team, reported IANS. Film actor Mithun Chakraborty, Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, Suvendu Adhikari, and many leaders from other parties who switched over to the BJP, have also been included, the report said.
Former Health Minister Harsh Vardhan and former IT Ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad and Prakash Javadekar, have also retained their positions in the executive.
Union Ministers Hardeep Singh Puri and Meenakshi Lekhi and MP Manoj Tiwari have made it to the committee as well.
Besides 80 regular members, the executive will also have 50 special invitees and 179 permanent invitees, including chief ministers (CMs), former CMs, deputy CMs, former deputy CMs, national office-bearers and other key party members from states, PTI reported.
As per sources, the national executive is set to hold its first physical meeting on 7 November in the national capital.
(With inputs from The Indian Express and PTI.)
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