Gandhi name works in BJP too, says Vinay Katiyar

Pilibhit MP Varun Gandhi's elevation in Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Parliamentary Board as General Secretary has drawn fire within the party. Party leader Vinay Katiyar said that Varun has been elevated because of his Gandhi surname. Katiyar said, "The Gandhi name commands respect in the Congress as well as the BJP. Of course, they will reap benefits."

Also Read: BJP announces core team; Modi returns to Board
Former Karnataka chief minister and BJP leader Sadananda Gowda, however, sounded optimistic about the new team. He also hinted at Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi taking over as the Prime Minister if the BJP comes to power in the next Lok Sabha elections. "This time NDA will form the government and Narendra Modi will lead it," he said. He also said that his party would win the upcoming Karnataka polls. "Modi will campaign in Karnataka and the BJP will win with full majority," Gowda added.
The BJP on Sunday announced its new Parliamentary Board and as speculated, Modi was reinducted into the panel after a gap of six years. Among the other new members, who were appointed in the board, were Modi's close aide and former Gujarat home minister Amit Shah and Uma Bharti. Uma Bharti, who is also among the newly-appointed Vice Presidents of the party, thanked Rajnath Singh, LK Advani and Nitin Gadkari.
While Smriti Irani was made BJP Vice-President, senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha as well as Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan were left out. Addressing a press conference in the national capital after the new BJP Parliamentary Board was announced, party spokesperson Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said "the new team is perfect and balanced". "This team will unfurl the flag of victory for BJP in the next Lok Sabha elections," he added.
While Prakash Javadekar, Shahnawaz Hussain and Nirmala Sitharaman will continue as party spokespersons, the new additions are Vijay Sonkar Shashtri, Sudhanshu Trivedi, Meenakshi Lekhi and Capt Abhimanyu.
Rajnath Singh's new team has now 12 Vice Presidents, 10 General Secretaries, 15 Secretaries and seven spokespersons, besides a 12-member Central Parliamentary Board, a 19-member Central Election Committee and a five-member Central Disciplinary Committee. Following is the list of BJP's new Parliamentary Board: BJP General Secretaries: 
Ananth Kumar
Thawarchand Gehlot
JP Naddha
Dharmendra Pradhan
Tapir Gaon
Amit Shah
Varun Gandhi
Rajeev Pratap Rudy
Murlidhar Rao
Ramlal (GS Org) BJP Central Parliamentary Board:
Rajnath Singh (President)
Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Lal Krishna Advani
Dr Murli Manohar Joshi
M Venkeya Naidu
Nitin Gadkari
Sushma Swaraj
Arun Jaitely
Narendra Modi
Ananth Kumar
Thawarchand Gehlot
Ramlal (GS Org) Vice Presidents:
Sadananda Gauda
Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi
Dr CP Thakur
Jual Urao
SS Ahluwalia
Balbir Punj
Satpal Malik
Prabhat Jha
Uma Bharti
Bijyo Chakravarti
Lakxmikanta Chawla
Kiran Maheshwari
Smriti Irani Secretaries:
Shyam Jaju
Bhupendra Yadav
Krishna Das
Dr Anil Jain
Vinod Pandey
Trivendra Rawat
Rameshwar Chaurasiya
Aarti Mehra
Renu Kushwaha
Sudha Yadav
Sudha Malaiya
Poonam Mahajan
Luies Marandi
Dr Tamil Isai
Sushree Vani Tripathi Central Election Committee:
Rajnath Singh (President)
Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Lal Krishna Advani
Dr Murli Manohar Joshi
M Venkeya Naidu
Nitin Gadkari
Sushma Swaraj
Arun Jaitely
Narendra Modi
Ananth Kumar
Thawarchand Gehlot
Ramlal (GS Org)
Gopinath Mundey
Jual Oran
Sayyeb Shahnawaj Hussain
Vinay Katiyar
JP Nadda
Dr Harshwardhan
Saroj Pandey (Ex-Officio) Central Disciplinary Committee:
Radha Mohan Singh (President)
Jagdeesh Mukhi (Secretary)
L Ganeshan (Member)
Hari Babu (Member)
Shyam Nandan Singh (Member) Joint General Secretaries (Org):
V Satish
Soudan Singh Treasurer:
Piyush Goyel Headquarter Incharge:
OP Kohli Spokespersons:
Prakash Jawdekar
Shaha Nawaj Hussain
Nirmla Sitaraman
Vijay Sonkar Shashtri
Dr Sudhanshu Trivedi
Meenakshi Lekhi
Capt Abhimanyu Presidents of Morchas:
Mahila Morcha - Saroj Pandey
Yuva Morcha - Anurag Thakur
SC Morcha - Dr Sanjay Paswan
ST Morcha - Faggan Singh Kulaste
Minority Morcha - Abdul Rashid
Kisan Morcha - Om Prakash Dhankar