The BJP’s national executive in Allahabad to be held on June 12 and 13 will set the stage for the party’s electoral foray into the politically crucial state of Uttar Pradesh that goes to polls next year. The meeting will also pave the way for a restructuring exercise in party and government, top party sources said.
The national executive in itself will discuss three resolutions over its two day sitting — a political resolution dealing with its plans for expansion along the Coromandel coast and strategy for the U.P. polls, an economic resolution focussing on the latest GDP figures and a resolution commending the NDA government on its two years in power.
“Party president Amit Shah is expected to speak extensively on U.P. and the party’s strategy there,” said a senior office bearer of the party.
More importantly, after the executive, “decks will be cleared for a reshuffle in the Union Cabinet, and consequently, a new team at the national level in the BJP,” he added. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has returned from a six-day trip overseas, will be finalising some of these details over the next few days.
“An assessment of Ministers has already been done,” said a source. President Pranab Mukherjee is also expected to be back from Africa by June 15. “The delay in organisational restructuring is because it is contingent on the Cabinet reshuffle, who gets dropped, who gets a ministerial berth,” he said.
Age barrier
While Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal’s vacant ministerial seat needs to be filled, Mr. Modi is considering an age cut-off of 75. Only two Ministers fit that criterion, Minority Affairs Minister Najma Heptullah and Small and Medium Scale Enterprises Minister Kalraj Mishra. “Here again there is a complication, with Kalraj Mishra being an important Brahmin face from Uttar Pradesh,” the source said.
Several gubernatorial appointments are also to be made.
