The Hindu - August 07, 2004
RSS 'pracharaks' made BJP regional secretaries
By Neena Vyas
NEW DELHI, AUG. 6. In a significant move indicating a revamp of the Bharatiya Janata Party's organisation machinery, the party president, Venkaiah Naidu, has appointed full-time Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh `pracharaks' as regional organisation secretaries, with each `pracharak' to head a cluster of States to take care of all organisation issues in that region.
Some of these `pracharaks' have only recently been given to the party by the RSS, a senior party leader said. One of them was till recently more active in the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, the RSS spokesperson, Ram Madhav said. It seems that the decision to place the `pracharaks' in these newly- created "regional" positions is a signal of the new synergy between the RSS, the larger Sangh Parivar and the BJP. The six regional organisation secretaries are: Venugopal Reddy for Pondicherry and Andaman and Lakshadweep; V. Satish for Assam and the northeast; Mukundan for Tamil Nadu and Kerala; Saudan Singh for Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh and Prassan Mishra for Orissa and West Bengal. This list is expected to be expanded later.
Mr. Naidu also appointed `prabharis' who will in charge of political affairs in the States. The former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Kalyan Singh, has been given charge of U.P. while the party general secretary, Pramod Mahajan, will continue as the `prabhari' (in-charge) for Maharashtra.
Although Mr. Naidu had reconstituted the national executive committee and revamped the party's list of office-bearers after the Lok Sabha election, the appointment of `prabharis', except those in five States going to the polls in the next seven months, was pending.
A balancing act
Mr. Kalyan Singh's appointment comes as a balancing act close on the heels of the change of party president in the State. Earlier, Mr. Naidu had dropped the backward caste State unit president, Vinay Katiyar, and replaced him with a brahmin leader, Kesrinath Tripathi. Today, he gave the job of `prabhari' to Kalyan Singh, a backward caste leader, when earlier the job was held by brahmin leader Kalraj Mishra. Mr. Mishra has been given the job of `prabhari' for the important States of Delhi and Rajasthan.
The party general secretary, Arun Jaitley, who had already been given charge of Bihar, a crucial State going to the polls early next year, has also been asked to look after Madhya Pradesh. Another former U.P. Chief Minister, Rajnath Singh, already in charge of Jharkhand, where polling will take place along with Bihar, has also been given additional charge of Chhattisgarh. The BJP general secretary, Shivraj Singh Chauhan, retains charge of Haryana while the party vice-president, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, has been asked to look after Himachal Pradesh. Swami Chinmayanand will continue to be in charge of Arunachal Pradesh.
The other `prabharis' are as follows: Padmanabha Acharya (Tamil Nadu); Bal Apte (Andhra Pradesh); Ved Prakash Goyal (Karnataka); L. Ganesan (Kerala and Lakshadweep); Om Mathur (Gujarat); Seshadirichari (Uttaranchal); Shahnawaj Hussain (Orissa); Sushil Modi (West Bengal); Arun Sathe (Assam); Jaskaur Meena (Punjab); Manohar Lal (Jammu and Kashmir); Sadanand Gowda (Goa); Aseem Ghosh (Tripura); Bharot Singh (Meghalaya); Rajen Gohain (Mizoram); Tapir Gao (Manipur); N.C. Borkataky (Nagaland); Tawarchand Gehlot (overall north-eastern States excluding Arunachal and Assam); Anadaman and Pondicherry (S Thirunavakarassar); and Chandigarh (Kiran Maheshwari).
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