Ahinda stamp on BSY's new team

Bengaluru: With an eye on Ahinda votes, BJP state president BS Yeddyurappa has given a huge representation to minorities, backward classes and dalits in his 40-member office-bearers team. Only four are from his Lingayat community.
The new team, party insiders said, has the imprint of Yeddyurappa and RSS man BL Santhosh, a key strategist in the recent Tamil Nadu and Kerala assembly polls.Representation to the supporters of party MP HN Ananth Kumar or legislator R Ashoka has been minimal.
Seven MPs - Sriramulu, PC Mohan and Ananth Kumar Hegde have become vice-presidents; Shobha Karandlaje is general secretary; Karadi Sanganna and Suresh Angadi are secretaries and Prathap Simha heads the yuva morcha wing. "The team has been formed with an eye on the 2018 elections. Yeddyurappa has already announced that he wants at least 22 of the 28 assembly seats from Bengaluru. He has chosen persons who can keep pace with his aggression and energy at work,'' sources said. "A general has picked a battle-hardened team. Most of the office-bearers have proved their mettle in galvanizing the party," they added.
Representation has also been given to party legislators, with Govind Karjol and Bhanu Prakash as vice-presidents, Aravind Limbavali, CT Ravi as general secretaries, Suresh Gowda as secretary. S Suresh Kumar and Go Madhusudan are the media spokespersons.
The mix of MPs and legislators in the team is to ensure they earn respect from party workers. They will have a profile of representing either Parliament or the assembly, which is an added advantage to get things done,'' a party leader said.
Rally today
Union ministers M Venkaiah Naidu and Jayant Sinha will be in Bengaluru on Friday for a public meeting to mark two years of NDA government. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address a similar meeting in Davanagere on Sunday.