Giving preference to young faces and women, Uttarakhand BJP President Mahendra Bhatt on Tuesday announced his new team of 34 state office bearers of the party. Keeping in mind the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, regional and caste equations have also been given priority in the new list of office bearers.
The new team comprises eight vice-presidents, three state general secretaries, eight secretaries, one office secretary, one media in charge, one state cell in charge and one state department in charge. Apart from this, seven presidents of different fronts have also been announced. Shashank Rawat, Asha Nautiyal, Jogendra Pundir, Rakesh Giri, Sameer Arya, Rakesh Rana and Intezar Hussain have been appointed as presidents of Yuva Morcha, Mahila Morcha, Kisan Morcha, OBC Morcha, SC Morcha, ST Morcha and Minority Morcha respectively.
Balwant Singh Bhoryal, Kailash Sharma, Kuldeep Kumar, Kalpana Saini, Neeru Devi, Mukesh Koli, Shailendra Bisht and Deshraj Karnawal are included in the list of BJP state vice-presidents.
Khilendra Chaudhary, Rajendra Bisht and Aditya Kothari have been appointed general secretaries of the party, while Meena Gangola, Aditya Chauhan, Meera Raturi, Hema Joshi, Lilavati Rana, Rakesh Nainwal, Gurvinder Singh Chandok and Vikas Sharma have been appointed as secretaries.
Puneet Mittal will be the new treasurer and Saket Agarwal will be the new co-treasurer. Kaustubhanand Joshi has been declared the office secretary, while Pushkar Singh Kala and Rishi Kandwal have been made the state cell in charge. The names of Anil Shahi and Ramesh Gadiya have been announced for the in-charge of the state department. Manveer Singh Chouhan will continue to be the media in charge of the state.
Apart from announcing office bearers from almost every district, the party has also made space for the relatives of former leaders. Of the three general secretaries, Rajendra Bisht is the brother of former minister Govind Singh Bisht and Aditya Kothari contested against a BJP candidate in 2012, but later joined the BJP. Shashank Rawat, who was made the President of Yuva Morcha, is the son of former Union Minister and former MP Late Bachi Singh Rawat. Deshraj Karnawal has been made the vice-president after not getting a ticket in the 2022 assembly elections. Kalpana Saini was made the Deputy Speaker even after being a Rajya Sabha member.
Bhatt, a two-time MLA from the party, replaced Haridwar MLA Madan Kaushik as the state president last month.
