Is BJP facing rift in organisation with a strain between JP Nadda and BL Santhosh?

New Delhi: All is not seemingly well in Bharatiya Janata Party on the organisational front as differences have apparently cropped up between party chief JP Nadda and the saffron unit’s National General Secretary (Organisation) BL Santhosh.

Party sources said that even as the BJP embarks on preparations for the Assembly polls later this year and in 2023, the uneasiness amongst top leaders’ functioning is also expected to have a bearing on the team that is finalising the strategy for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The reported differences have cropped up over a period of time even as many BJP leaders have reportedly expressed their displeasure at the working style and behaviour of Santhosh with party leaders.

Sources stated that other organisational post holders have also discussed with the leadership their reservations about approaching Santhosh.

These BJP leaders, sources stated, have pointed out that any disconnect with the National General Secretary (Organisation) could hurt the prospects of the party in the forthcoming polls and have requested the leadership to be more open to their suggestions and views without taking it in the negative sense.

The position of the BJP's National General Secretary (Organisation) is considered one of the most important posts in the party. And the incumbent is responsible for better coordination between the party and its ideological parent the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh, discussing and finalising strategy on political and election issues. The person holding this post is loaned from RSS for effective supervision of the organisational tasks and can be repatriated to the Sangh.

In mid-2019, Santhosh was brought into the position of National General Secretary (Organisation) in the place of Ramlal who was sent back to the Sangh as its Akhil Bharatiya Sah Sampark Pramukh. Ramlal had served as the National General Secretary (Organisation) of BJP since 2005.

Santhosh, an old RSS hand from Karnataka, was promoted at the national level with an eye on the expansion of the BJP in South India. The party feels that it has a huge scope of expansion in the region and has set a target of winning 100 seats from the southern states in 2024.

The recent posting of Sunil Bansal as National General Secretary has also created a buzz as the party embarks on the preparation for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.  

Sources pointed out that Bansal is known to be close to former party chief and Union Home Minister Amit Shah and had played a crucial and successful role in getting the party’s back-to-back victories in the crucial state of Uttar Pradesh in both Assembly (2017 and 2022) and Lok Sabha polls in 2019.

Bansal has been given charge of West Bengal, Odisha and Telangana as the party’s National General secretary. These are the states where the BJP is trying to make its mark at both the Assembly and Lok Sabha levels with an eye on future polls as it tries to expand beyond its traditional base of states in North and West India.