Arun Jaitley given charge of K'taka polls

New Delhi, Mar 16: The BJP today announced party General Secretary Arun Jaitley would be incharge of Karnataka where assembly are due while former party president M Venkaiah Naidu has been given charge of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

Party spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad has been given charge of Chhattisgarh, the fourth state set to face elections. Mr Jaitley was also incharge of the party's strategy for the last elections in Karnataka and under his leadership, the party had emerged as the single largest though short of a majority. The party has also set up a seven member core committee for overseeing the elections. Senior party leaders Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Jaswant Singh, Sushma Swaraj and Party General Secretaries Mr Jaitley, Ramlal and Ananth Kumar will be the members of the Core Committee, party sources said.

While dates are to be announced for the polls in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chhatisgarh, the Karnataka assembly has to be reconstituted before May 28, unless President's rule in the state is extended by Parliament.

Karnataka by the Parliament.

UNI