Amit Shah plans to merge BJP national cells

New Delhi : BJP president Amit Shah is all set to discontinue a mechanism his immediate predecessors introduced to accommodate second rung leaders in the organisation. In order to prune the organisation, he plans to merge some of the national cells into one thereby reducing their numbers. Although the party chief wants their functioning to be more focused, the move is likely to upset a number of second rung leaders, who are expecting some positions in the party.

According to sources, Shah will cut down the number of national cells from 44 and may constitute less than 20.

“Many cells have been duplicated. The party president thinks that merging these cells would make them more effective and focused,” said a source. However, with BJP being in power, many second rung leaders are vying for posts in the party and many, who want to work in the organisation, have been looking forward to reconstituting these cells. “This would disappoint many,” admitted a leader. Shah has earlier this month dissolved all the national cells with an intention to reconstitute them.

The post of president or convenor to these cells is considered to be prestigious because according to the BJP constitution, they become permanent invitees to the corresponding BJP Executive Committee.

According to a BJP leader, there were only a few area specific cells at the beginning. “But when Nitin Gadkari became party chief, he constituted a number of them, mainly with the purpose of accommodating party leaders into the organisational posts. Later, Rajnath Singh retained them. The second rung leaders were happy to hold posts,” he said. However, Shah feels it is too cumbersome to manage them.