The BJP on Friday appointed Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat as head of a 14-member “management team” for the upcoming Presidential election to coordinate with State units and allies for the same. This comes after the BJP empowered party president J. P. Nadda and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to reach out to political parties to consult on the poll.
BJP general secretaries Vinod Tawde and C.T. Ravi are the co-conveners of the team. Another general secretary, Tarun Chugh, is also part of the team, according to a release issued by the party.
Union Ministers G. Kishan Reddy, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Sarbananda Sonowal, Arjun Meghwal and Bharati Pawar are also members of the team.
The other members are BJP’s national vice-president D. K. Aruna, national secretary Rituraj Sinha, national president of women’s wing Vanati Srinivasan, national spokesperson Sambit Patra and Assam unit vice-president Rajdeep Roy.
According to sources, this management team will coordinate with all State units of the BJP and its allies for the presidential election and is also expected to guide its elected voting representatives on the voting process.
Mr. Nadda and Mr. Singh had earlier already reached out to several leaders, including Sharad Pawar, Mamata Banerjee, Nitish Kumar, Naveen Patnaik, Farooq Abdullah, and will continue with the process. While the party is yet to announce the name of its candidate, sources say that it will happen before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s proposed trip to Germany scheduled for June 26. The last date of filing nominations is June 29.
With numbers on its side, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance is expected to ensure the victory of its candidate in the Presidential election scheduled to be held on July 18 with results to be announced on July 21.
