BJP groups vie for their share in the organisational cake

New Delhi, Jan 14 (UNI) Various groups within the BJP have become active in staking claim for their share in the organisational set-up as BJP President Rajnath Singh has said he would recast his team after Makar Sankranti.

The group loyal to Leader of Opposition L K Advani which controls the party's strings has been active to retain its hold. Political activists are watching the actions of Mr Singh who was able to gain a three-year stint in office after completing one year in the post to finish the left over term from Mr Advani, his predecessor in office obviously with the help of RSS, the ideological big brother of Sangh Parivar.

The first of the appointments after the Lucknow National Council which ratified Mr Singh's election as BJP President has gone to Mr Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, an Advani loyalist who has been made the chief of the BJP Election Control Cell. Partymen see this appointment as a prelude to his reappointment as the party Vice-President.

This may be followed by elevating former Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra Gopinath Munde, the brother-in-law of late party General Secretary Pramod Mahajan besides former Union Minister Satyanayan Jatia to the post of party General Secretaries.

Mr Arif Mohammad Khan, the moderate Muslim politician who joined the BJP a couple of years ago is sure to be inducted as a General Secretary in view of the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the sources said. Mr Khan is not seen as a person belonging to any camp and is regarded as gaining his entry on his own strength. He is the moderate Muslim face of the party after having stood against the conservative elements right from the controversial Shah Bano case as a minister in the Rajiv Gandhi Cabinet.

Speculation is thick that BJP General Secretary Arun Jaitley may be asked to contest from the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat fallen vacant following the resignation of cricketer-turned-MP Navjot Singh Sidhu who has been convicted to three years Rigorous Imprisonment by Punjab and Haryana High Court for culpable homicide not amounting to murder in a 18-year-old road rage case. The issue has been discussed with Shiromani Akali Dal, the senior partner of the NDA in Punjab, sources affirmed. However when asked about such a possibility, Mr Jaitley a few days ago merely said "I have not heard anything like that before', but hinted at the possibility of renominating Mr Sidhu himself subject to the orders of the Supreme Court which has granted him bail. The possibility of the party nominating the former cricketer's wife cannot be ruled out.

BJP MP and former minister Maneka Gandhi is said to be making an 'independent bargain' to wangle a 'prominent party post' for her son Varun Gandhi. BJP Today Editor Prabhat Jha is sought to be elevated as a Secretary to man an key position, sources said. While not many are willing to discuss the leaving out of the party President by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in his discussions with the BJP brass about the Indo-US Nuclear deal, a section feels that the recasting effort is a 'real test' whether Mr Rajnath Singh will 'assert or continue' with the previous team after some cosmetic changes under the influence of the 'big two' of the BJP -- former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Mr Advani. Sources who do not want to quoted said that the exclusion of the BJP President from an important meeting by the Prime Minister was too important a development to miss anybody's attention.

UNI