In a move marking the end of an era of stalwarts like Atal Behari Vajpayee, L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, the Bharatiya Janata Party yesterday unveiled a list of its highest decision-making body, the parliamentary board, which excluded the veterans.
The BJP instead included the seniors in a separate group, the ‘Margdarshak Mandal’ (guiding committee), which it said would guide the party.
The parliamentary board will now be headed by BJP president Amit Shah, and marked the entry of J P Nadda and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in the core group.
The guiding group includes Vajpayee, Advani and Joshi as well as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh.
Modi and Rajnath Singh are also in the parliamentary board.
“Party president Amit Shah has constituted a ‘margdarshak’ committee with veteran party leaders as its members for guiding party activities,” the party said in a statement.
Congress leader Rashid Alvi dismissed it as an “old age home” for leaders.
BJP spokesman Syed Shahnawaz Hussain, however, said the guiding committee was not a permanent committee. “It’s a temporary committee.”
The constitution of the BJP does not have any provision for such a group and the parliamentary board remains the highest decision-making body, party sources said.
The sources said Joshi was informed about the decision by Modi himself, while Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu informed Advani.
The other members of the 12-member parliamentary board are Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Naidu, Nitin Gadkari, Ananth Kumar, Thawar Chand Gehlot and Ramlal.
The central election committee of the party was also announced yesterday.
It has Shah as its chief, and includes Modi, Rajnath Singh, Jaitley, Swaraj, Naidu, Gadkari, Chouhan and Shahnawaz Hussain.
Talking to reporters in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Chouhan, however, stressed that Advani “remains the guiding light for the whole party.”
The restructuring of the BJP parliamentary board and its central election committee heralds a generation shift in the party by infusing young blood.
The changes appear to be in line with the party’s notional principle of having a cut-off age of 75 years which has been applied for inclusion of leaders in the cabinet.
The 86-year-old Advani has shared an uneasy relationship with Modi in the recent past.
He openly revolted when Modi was named as the chief of the party’s election campaign committee on June 9 last year and resigned from all key posts in protest. He took back the resignation a day later on persuasion by senior party leaders.
“When a generational shift has taken place and when need for accommodating fresh energy and ideas has finally been recognised, we need to make room for others who are more in tune with the requirements of the changed times,” a senior party leader said.
