Gadkari made Goa election in-charge

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari was on Wednesday made BJP in-charge of the Goa Assembly election, which is due next year.

The BJP is in power in the State, where the Congress is being considered its main rival with the Aam Aadmi Party also trying hard to set up a base.

In another appointment, BJP president Amit Shah made Laxman Giluwa the chief of the party’s Jharkhand unit after accepting the resignation of Tala Marandi.

Mr. Giluwa, who is a Lok Sabha member, is also a tribal like Mr. Marandi, whose short tenure at the helm was mired in controversies and caused disaffection in a section of the BJP following his criticism of some decisions of the party-run State government.

His alleged unilateral announcement of the team of State party office-bearers proved to be the last straw.

After making Raghubar Das, who is not from the Scheduled Tribes that constitute the largest block of votes in the State, the Chief Minister, the unit had appointed Mr. Marandi its State party chief in an apparent balancing act.