BJP Overhauls Central Office-Bearers List; Congress Turncoat Anil Antony, AMU Ex-VC Tariq Mansoor in Nadda’s New Team – News18

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rejigged its team of central office-bearers on Saturday, bringing Congress turncoat Anil Antony and former AMU vice-chancellor Tariq Mansoor, also a Pasmanda Muslim into national leadership roles. The move comes months ahead of Lok Sabha Election in 2024.

In his new team, BJP Chief JP Nadda has also accommodated the party’s former Telangana unit chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar as a national general secretary. However, the party has retained most of the office-bearers as vice presidents, general secretaries, and secretaries in the new list.

There are 13 vice presidents, nine general secretaries, including B L Santhosh as the in-charge of organisation, and 13 secretaries on the list.

Former Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) vice-chancellor Mansoor, now a BJP MLC in Uttar Pradesh, has been made a vice-president, a decision seen to be part of the party’s overtures to Pasmanda Muslims.

Anil Antony, son of veteran Congress leader A K Antony, has been brought in as a national secretary. Apart from him, the party also elevated Kamakhya Prasad and Surendra Nagar as national secretaries.

Meanwhile, the party has dropped C T Ravi, a leader from Karnataka, and Dilip Saikia, a Lok Sabha MP from Assam, as its general secretaries.

Quoting sources, news agency PTI reported that they may be contesting the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Former Union minister Radha Mohan Singh, a Lok Sabha MP from Bihar, has also been dropped as a party vice-president. BJP also dropped Dilip Ghosh as Vice President.

(With PTI inputs)