Sitharaman, Irani vie for BJP parliamentary board posts
New Delhi: With the impending formation of the new national team of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), several leaders are eyeing the vacant four posts in the party’s parliamentary board. It is considered a sign of growing stature and becoming politically strong in the organisation.
After the death of senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj, there has not been a single woman in the parliamentary board. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Union Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani are reportedly in the fray. Either of the two leaders could be assigned a place in the parliamentary board.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party President J P Nadda, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah, Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, Dalit face and Union minister Thawar Chand Gehlot, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and organisation general secretary B L Santosh are the eight ministers who comprise the parliamentary board.
Four posts are vacant after Venkaiah Naidu became Vice President and three other BJP leaders Arun Jaitley, Ananth Kumar and Swaraj passed away.
Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan, national general secretary Bhupendra Yadav, former Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Union ministers Prakash Javadekar and Ravi Shankar Prasad and Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, say sources, could be given representation in the parliamentary board.
The parliamentary board has a quota of 11 to 12 members. However, it is up to the party president to add more or less members to the board.
A party leader told IANS that the list prepared by Nadda was to be released by July 6 but it may now be announced after August 3.