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POLITICS

K. Jana Krishnamurthi became BJP, including serving as the Chief
BJP president in 2001 upon the Minister of Uttar Pradesh and
resignation of Bangaru Lax- the President of the BJP’s Youth
man and held office till 2002. He Singh. He advocated a return
resigned a year later when he to a Hindutva platform. He had
was inducted as a minister in Atal announced commitment to
Bihari Vajpayee cabinet. He was building Ram Temple at Ayodhya
an active member of the Parlia- and had the role of the English
ment Standing Committees on language in India, claiming that
External Affairs and Defence. He was also the Chairman of most of Indian population is unable to participate in Indian
the Petitions Committee. His tenure will be remembered economy and cultural discourse due to extreme prefer-
for his frank and forthright report on Petrol Adulteration. ences shown to English at the expense of native languages.
Earlier he had set up the Intellectual Cells of the BJP on He remained Union Home Minister in first tenure of Prime
Economic, Defence and Foreign Affairs. From 1995 onwards Minister, Narendra Modi and became the Union Defence
he was in charge of the BJP Headquarters and functioned Minister of India from May 31, 2019.
as Spokesperson for the party.
Nitin Gadkari became president
Venkaiah Naidu, currently Vice of the BJP in 2009 and contin-
President of India, remained BJP ued till 2013. He was the young-
president from 2002 to 2004. He est President of the BJP in 2009.
has served as the Minister of Hous- He enjoyed strong support from
ing and Poverty Alleviation, Urban the RSS. Gadkari strongly sup-
Development and Information ported privatization and cam-
and Broadcasting. A brilliant ora- paigned for investments in
tor, he played important role in Jai infrastructure sector by pri-
Andhra Movement of 1972 and in vate sector. He stepped down
1974, became the convener of the Jayaprakash Narayan anti- in 2013. As party president, Gadkari, re-emphasized
corruption Chhatra Sangharsh Samiti of Andhra Pradesh. on legendary Jan Sangh leader Deen Dayal Upadhya’s
principles of integral humanism and Antyodaya or
Rajnath Singh served as president of BJP twice, 2005 upliftment of the poor. Nitin Gadkari was born into a Mar-
to 2009 and 2013 to 2014. He had assumed office of BJP athi Deshastha Brahmin family in Nagpur, India to Jairam
President in December 2005 for the remainder of Gadkari and Bhanutai Gadkari. During his adolescence, he
L.K. Advani’s term. He was reappointed for a full term in worked for the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha and the stu-
2006. Singh had held many positions for the RSS and the dent union Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad.

been of much benefit to the party. Despite declaring Devendra Remote control in Delhi
Fadnavis as the chief minister in Maharashtra, the party’s seats It is now being realized in BJP that the politics of the party is
fell in the assembly elections. being run like a remote from Delhi. That is, the remote to run
The party also lost its government. Fadnavis was sworn in the organization has become in Delhi. Due to this, the leaders
with NCP leader Ajit Pawar without majority. This has given a of states are becoming weaker.
big blow to the party’s image. No matter how big the BJP talks about internal democracy,
The BJP suffered a major setback in Jharkhand where the truth is that BJP politics is gradually becoming centralized.
Raghubar Das was the chief minsiter, when it lost power. Nadda must bring the BJP out of this.
All this proves, that the new BJP president will face a big As Nadda is not a minister like Shah, he will be able to give
challenge to find faces who can make the party successful in the organization full time. Congress was also weakened in the
the upcoming elections. states due to “remote” from Delhi.
In Maharashtra, Fadnavis is now increasingly being accused The BJP will definitely have to avoid it and ensure that it is
that he left no stone unturned to weaken the Maratha leaders not exclusively and completely dependent on the two leaders
in the state. State BJP president Chandrakant Patil recently said Modi and Shah.
that the “party culture of standing by loyalists was diluted due
to the influx of leaders from other parties”. LETTERS@TEHELKA.COM

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