07-21-2007, 02:41 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Jaitley is election in-charge of Gujarat </b>
Pioneer News Service | New Delhi
BJP president Rajnath Singh on Friday announced that party general secretary <b>Arun Jaitley would be in-charge of election management in the crucial State of Gujarat.</b>Â
As part of a revamp of work allocation, Singh had earlier made Jaitley, a Rajya Sabha member from Gujarat, in-charge of the party affairs in Uttar Pradesh following the BJP's crushing defeat in the State Assembly elections.
Insiders viewed the move as a gesture to placate a section of BJP leaders who were reportedly unhappy with Singh's style of functioning after he was elected party president.
In his first major decision in January, the BJP president had dropped Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi from the party's Parliamentary Board and Jaitley, the organisation's main media manager, as its chief spokesman.
<b>"Jaitley will be election in-charge for Gujarat and Rajiv Pratap Rudy for Nagaland," Singh said during a lunch hosted by the NDA for the media.</b>
The BJP chief, who has been facing negative publicity generated mostly by insiders, told mediapersons that the decision to give new responsibilities to Jaitley and Rudy was taken over a week ago.
"This is what the BJP is like now," Singh, who in his national executive address cautioned the party against leaking out internal issues to the media, told mediapersons.
The BJP chief also announced the setting up of three committees to evolve the party's view in core policy areas.
<b>Senior party leader Murli Manohar Joshi would head the committee on economic policies, while former External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha would head another committee on the country's foreign policy in the South Asian region.</b>
<b>Former Union Minister Arun Shourie would head the committee on Northeast affairs.</b>
The BJP chief parried questions about a group of <b>Chhattisgarh MLAs seeking an appointment with him and senior party leader L K Advani apparently to voice their grievances against Chief Minister Raman Singh over his style of functioning</b>.
Earlier in the day, the BJP held a meeting of its core group, a day after the NDA decided to contest the vice-presidential elections.
Held at former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's residence, the meeting is understood to have discussed Thursday's presidential elections in which more than a dozen party MLAs from Gujarat were said to have voted for Patil as a mark of their protest against Modi.
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Pioneer News Service | New Delhi
BJP president Rajnath Singh on Friday announced that party general secretary <b>Arun Jaitley would be in-charge of election management in the crucial State of Gujarat.</b>Â
As part of a revamp of work allocation, Singh had earlier made Jaitley, a Rajya Sabha member from Gujarat, in-charge of the party affairs in Uttar Pradesh following the BJP's crushing defeat in the State Assembly elections.
Insiders viewed the move as a gesture to placate a section of BJP leaders who were reportedly unhappy with Singh's style of functioning after he was elected party president.
In his first major decision in January, the BJP president had dropped Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi from the party's Parliamentary Board and Jaitley, the organisation's main media manager, as its chief spokesman.
<b>"Jaitley will be election in-charge for Gujarat and Rajiv Pratap Rudy for Nagaland," Singh said during a lunch hosted by the NDA for the media.</b>
The BJP chief, who has been facing negative publicity generated mostly by insiders, told mediapersons that the decision to give new responsibilities to Jaitley and Rudy was taken over a week ago.
"This is what the BJP is like now," Singh, who in his national executive address cautioned the party against leaking out internal issues to the media, told mediapersons.
The BJP chief also announced the setting up of three committees to evolve the party's view in core policy areas.
<b>Senior party leader Murli Manohar Joshi would head the committee on economic policies, while former External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha would head another committee on the country's foreign policy in the South Asian region.</b>
<b>Former Union Minister Arun Shourie would head the committee on Northeast affairs.</b>
The BJP chief parried questions about a group of <b>Chhattisgarh MLAs seeking an appointment with him and senior party leader L K Advani apparently to voice their grievances against Chief Minister Raman Singh over his style of functioning</b>.
Earlier in the day, the BJP held a meeting of its core group, a day after the NDA decided to contest the vice-presidential elections.
Held at former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's residence, the meeting is understood to have discussed Thursday's presidential elections in which more than a dozen party MLAs from Gujarat were said to have voted for Patil as a mark of their protest against Modi.
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