The 121-member new National Executive Committee of the BJP has as many as 40 women, nearly one-third of the total, as mandated by the party constitution amended during Rajnath Singh's tenure as president.
As the constitution also makes it compulsory to include 25 per cent “new faces,” who were not part of the outgoing executive, BJP president Nitin Gadkari has been able to give the committee a fresh look with more women and more young members.
Among the “new” entrants are political secretaries of both Mr. Singh and Mr. Gadkari — Sudhanshu Trivedi and Vinay Saharsabuddhe.
Senior leader Arun Shourie, who assailed the leadership after the BJP's defeat in the 2009 election, remains a national executive committee member. Balbir Punj and Chandan Mitra, journalists, are also members. Nalin Kohli, who was part of the media team of Mr. Singh, has been accommodated.
But Swapan Dasgupta, who was nominated to the 2009 election management committee by senior leader L.K. Advani and is known to be close to Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley, does not find a place in the executive. Nor does the former Karnataka Minister, Shobha Karandlaje, who had to resign following the revolt by the Reddy brothers against Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa last year.
Interestingly, Col. Kirori Singh Bainsla of the Gujjar agitation fame in Rajasthan has been inducted as a national executive member.
Among the women members are Lalitha Kumaramangalam, Pinki Anand, Punam Azad, Rekha Gupta, Kiran Kher, Gauri Chaoudhari, Shanta Reddy and Sukhada Pande.
