Amaravati: Purandeswari elevated as BJP national general secretary

Amaravati: Daggubati Purandeswari has been appointed general secretary of BJP in the latest national office-bearers list announced by the party president J P Nadda here on Saturday taking everyone by surprise.

Purandeshwari's elevation from BJP Mahila Morcha Prabhari (incharge) comes at a crucial time in Andhra Pradesh politics where the BJP is trying to put up a spirited fight against the ruling YSRCP as well as TDP.

Among the other Telugus of prominence from AP, Ram Madhav, general secretary, is replaced and G V L Narasimha Rao Rao has been dropped as the spokesperson of the party.

Nadda sprang a few surprises in the new team of national office-bearers that he announced on Saturday. The surprises were specially dished out in the context of picking leaders from Andhra Pradesh. The new list of party functionaries at the national level has an element of continuity as well as change.

The list of eight general secretaries, crucial organisation positions in the party as they are the link between state and Central leadership, has five new faces with Bhupender Yadav, Arun Singh and Kailash Vijayvargiya being retained. Purandeswari is one among those elevated to such a crucial position.

In another significant move pertaining to Andhra Pradesh, Satya Kumar has been retained as the national secretary of the party. Satya Kumar had in the past worked as the OSD of M Venkaiah Naidu prior to the latter's elevation as the Vice-President.

The party has also expanded its list of spokespersons to 23, with MP Anil Baluni being elevated as the chief spokesperson and remaining its media head.

But the most notable omission from the list of spokespersons is G V L Narasimha Rao, who failed to find a place this time.