Many surprise faces in Manoj Tiwari’s new team

NEW DELHI: A month after he took over the reins of BJP’s Delhi unit, Manoj Tiwari announced his new team on Sunday. The 35-member team, which includes former AAP member Shazia Ilmi and BJP member Nupur Sharma, is seen as an attempt to project a young and aggressive face of the party to counter AAP in the municipal polls.
The list reflects an effort to balance factions that had earlier been bypassed. It has several close aides of Union sports minister Vijay Goel and Delhi BJP in-charge Shyam Jaju at key positions.While Tiwari has been actively trying to connect with the people in AAP strongholds, sources said he had little say in the selection process as he was new to the organisational setup.
Not many people from the old team have been retained. The list has several new faces, including some not-so-active members. South Delhi MP Ramesh Bidhuri, councillors Ashish Sood and Rekha Gupta haven’t found a place in the new team. Bidhuri, who actively managed the state unit’s functioning during Satish Upadhyay’s tenure as state chief, has been given responsibility in UP elections.
Ilmi, who joined BJP just before the Lok Sabha elections in 2014, is one of the eight vice-presidents, along with JP Agarwal, Abhay Verma, Shikha Rai, Kamaljeet Sehrawat (who was the head of women’s cell), Rajiv Babbar (spokesperson in the last team) and ex-MLA Mohan Singh Bisht. Verma, who was vice-president earlier, is one of the two Poorvanchali faces in the state executive. Sadar Kulwant Singh Baath, who is a member of SAD (Badal) and elected member of the Delhi gurdwara committee, is a surprise entry.
Kuljeet Chahal, who was vice-president in the previous team, former mayor Ravinder Gupta and councillor Rajesh Bhatia have been given the key posts of general secretary. Gupta, who contested the 2002 municipal elections as an Independent against BJP, has been mired in controversy with former North corporation mayor and BJP councillor Yogender Chandolia levelling corruption charges against him. Former east Delhi mayor Meenakshi has been appointed as secretary.
The party has appointed Nupur Sharma, who contested the assembly elections against Arvind Kejriwal in 2015, Harish Khurana, former Delhi CM Madan Lal Khurana’s son, Aman Sinha, Ashwini Upadhyay, former AAP member, Naveen Kumar and Ashok Goyal as spokespersons.
The presence of Vishnu Mittal, Gunjan Narula and Shobha Upadhyay has surprised many as they have not been active at the state level. But senior leaders say the party is rewarding those who have worked at the grassroot level.
Poonam Parashar, wife of former Kirari MLA Anil Jha, is the new chief of Mahila Morcha. Sunil Yadav is president of the Delhi unit of Bhartiya Janta Yuva Morcha and Mukesh Rana president of Kisan Morcha's Delhi unit. Gaurav Khari will head the OBC Morcha of Delhi BJP.