Gearing up for the Lok Sabha elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party has appointed in-charges and ‘vistaraks’ (people appointed for managing the organisation affairs) for the seven parliamentary constituencies in Delhi. On Saturday, the newly-appointed members attended a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah.

The party has selected a mix of old and young faces to strengthen the organisation and lead the campaigns in constituencies assigned to them. Tarun Chugh, Delhi BJP co-incharge, said, “These people will be responsible for the complete election management of the constituency assigned to them. They will reach out to the people and tell them about the work done by our government at the Centre. We are also reaching out to beneficiaries of central government schemes.”

The in-charges will also plan campaigns to garner support for the party candidates. The party has appointed Abhay Verma and Rajiv Babbar, both vice-presidents in Delhi BJP, as in-charge of West Delhi and East Delhi parliamentary constituencies respectively where Purvanchali community plays a decisive role. State unit general secretary and councillor Ashish Sood will head the campaign in South Delhi while former East Delhi mayor Harsh Malhotra has been made in-charge of the New Delhi seat.

“This is an important responsibility. We will strengthen the party organisation,” said Verma. The party has reposed faith in old guard such as Ved Vyas Mahajan, Bhola Nath Vij and Moolchand Chawla, a former councillor, to take charge of North East Delhi, North West Delhi and Chandni Chowk seats respectively.

“The party has appointed in-charges of all seven constituencies. We will train our workers so that they can tell people about the work done by our government at the Centre,” said Babbar.

For the post of vistaraks, the party has trusted those wellversed with the setup. Raj Kumar Grover Satyanarayan Gautam (both have been in-charges of Karol Bagh and South Delhi districts respectively) have been given the charge of New Delhi and West Delhi constituencies, while former mayor Ram Narayan Dubey and ex-MLA Mahinder Nagpal will work in East and North West Delhi respectively.

Suraj Bhan, member of the Purvanchal wing, has been made in-charge of North East Delhi, and former councillor Mohan Bharadwaj will look after the organisation in South Delhi.

“Vistaraks will strengthen the party at the grassroots level. In most cases, party members have been given charge of areas not familiar to them. These people had attended the meeting with the PM and Amit Shah last week,” said Rajesh Bhatia, general secretary, Delhi BJP.

First Published: Jan 15, 2019 13:43 IST