Senior BJP leaders hold meeting, discuss organisational restructuring

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) expansion in recent years, without a corresponding restructuring of its organisational set-up, has been weighing heavily on the party leadership. With a new national team as well as a Cabinet reshuffle said to be in the offing, discussions on organisational restructuring have taken centre stage.

Proposals, including appointing parliamentary board members, barring Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president Nitin Nabin, as in-charges of specific regions of the country on the lines of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) kshetra pracharaks(regional organiser), and increasing the total number of BJP national office-bearers from the current 45 to 60, are on the anvil.

Many of these proposals were discussed on Monday. Meetings were first held between BJP general secretary (organisation) B.L. Santosh and senior RSS leaders, including sah sarkaryavah(joint general secretary) Arun Kumar, ahead of a separate high-level interaction at Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s residence later in the day. Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president Nitin Nabin, BJP joint general secretary (organisation) Shiv Prakash, and Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan were present at the meeting, which continued for over four hours.

According to BJP sources, the discussions focused on restructuring the party organisation at the national level and possible changes in its functioning. There was also a detailed review of the NEET examination issue, as well as the political situation in poll-bound States, including Punjab, and other ongoing political developments.

Sources said key organisational issues discussed included a possible reconstitution of the BJP Parliamentary Board, the introduction of a new system of regional in-charges, strengthening the party’s grievance redressal mechanism, and increasing the participation of women within the organisation.

There were also discussions on expanding the number of BJP office-bearers, as well as the party’s national executive and national council. The number of central office-bearers, currently around 45, may be increased to about 60, according to sources.

The idea of appointing eight to nine regional in-charges drawn from members of the Parliamentary Board has been under discussion for some time as part of a broader exercise aimed at decentralisation of power and strengthening organisational oversight.

Similarly, proposals to integrate the grievance redressal mechanism with regional in-charges have also been under consideration. Increasing the representation of women in organisational roles has been another key area of focus.

In addition, discussions were held on strengthening the BJP’s political position in four key border States: West Bengal, Punjab, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Following its recent success in West Bengal, the party is now expected to focus more intensively on Punjab, with Mr. Shah likely to play a central role in shaping strategy going forward.

Sources indicated that the meeting was part of a broader exercise ahead of the announcement of the BJP president’s new national team and a possible reshuffle in the Union government.

The deliberations are also seen as preparatory to finalising organisational and governmental changes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi returns from his overseas visit on June 18.