Under fire from his colleagues over his style of functioning, Bharatiya Janata Party chief Rajnath Singh has given general secretary Arun Jaitley, whom he dropped as party spokesman, the charge of the party's election management in Gujarat.
As part of a revamp of work allocation, Rajnath Singh had earlier made Jaitley, a Rajya Sabha member from Gujarat, in charge of the party affairs in Uttar Pradesh following the BJP's crushing defeat in the state Assembly elections.
In January, the BJP president dropped Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi from the party's parliamentary board and Jaitley, the organisation's media face, as chief spokesman.
"Jaitley will be election in charge for Gujarat and Rajiv Pratap Rudy for Nagaland," Rajnath Singh said during a lunch hosted by the National Democratic Alliance for the media.
Disaffection, party sources say, has mounted in the BJP over Rajnath Singh's style of functioning and over his failed election campaign in Uttar Pradesh, his home state.
The BJP chief, who has been facing negative publicity generated mostly by insiders, told reporters that the decision to give new responsibilities to Jaitley and Rudy was taken over a week ago.
"This is what the BJP is like now," Rajnath Singh, who in his national executive address cautioned the party against leaking out internal issues to the media, told reporters.
Asked about his comments on his party's campaign against United Progressive Alliance-Left presidential candidate Pratibha Patil, the BJP leader insisted the opposition raised questions arising out of media reports.
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