The BJP’S parliamentary board got a revamp, with the inclusion of six fresh faces and the most prominent exclusion being Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Chouhan. The decision–making body will now get the services from which BS Yediyurappa and Devendra Fadnavis. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who got the BJP to an unmatched second term in the state, is fierce exclusion after reports that he would land the coveted spot as the party’s decision-makers. 

The BJP’s reshuffled parliamentary board, including the first Sikh representative, highlights a generational and political movement in the highest realms of the BJP in the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah period. 

 The biggest shocker in the reshuffle is the omission of the former BJP chief and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari. Until now, the party’s former presidents always got a seat in the decision-making process. At a recent event in Nagpur, Mr. Gadkari said that politics nowadays was more about power play and that the thought of quitting politics struck him many times.

The other prominent Maharashtra BJP leader, Devendra Fadnavis, has landed a spot on the election committee. Former Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal is also on the parliamentary board.

West Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh has said the coronavirus pandemic is gone. “Didi is only imposing the lockdown in the state so that BJP cannot hold meetings and rallies,” he added while addressing a public meeting in Dhaniakhali in Hooghly district. “Evidently, he values vote bank politics much above human lives,” Trinamool Congress tweeted on Friday.

“Corona chole gechhe (Coronavirus is gone). Didimoni (Mamata Banerjee) is just pretending and imposing lockdowns so that the BJP can’t organise meetings and rallies in the state. No one can stop us,” Dilip Ghosh, Bengal BJP chief, said at a rally in Dhaniakhali.

In his latest comments on the Covid-19 crisis, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday urged people not to take coronavirus lightly and follow rules of wearing face masks and maintaining social distancing until scientists developed a vaccine.But a member of his own party seemed to undermine the threat as he addressed a crowded public meeting at a time other top leaders have switched to online rallies. The BJP had, earlier this year, relentlessly attacked the state’s ruling Trinamool over Bengal’s worsening virus crisis, saying it had deliberately underreported cases and deaths.

In a quite bizarre turn of events, the state of Karnataka has recently withdrawn criminal cases against many BJP Leaders. This means that these ministers are likely to escape trial due to this move irrespective of the law enforcement agencies advising that this move will be counter-productive.  The recommendation of the sub-committee headed by the Home Minster of the state Basavaraj Bommai led to these withdrawn cases. Another interesting facet of this whole scenario is the fact that the Director General of Police, the Inspector General of Police, the Director of Prosecution and the Government Litigation and Law Department has strongly advised against the same. Here are some of the prominent people cases against who have been withdrawn. First, the Law Minister J.C. Madhuswamy and Tourism Minister C.T. Ravi for unlawful assembly and wrongful restraint in 2015 during the altercation between students of two communities in Hunsur. Second, the   MLA Anand Singh for criminal intimidation and assault on a public official along with damage to public property. Third, the Agricultural Minister, B.C. Patil for assaulting and abusing police personnel and damaging police vehicles in 2012. Fourth, Mysuru M.P. Pratap Singh for causing hurt to police personeel voluntarily in 2017 during Hanuman Jayanthi procession. These are just some examples of the cases which are being withdrawn. The Law Minister in a statement to News18 stated that this was a routine procedure and the same has been done to secure ‘public interest’.  The second reason stated was that of reducing the burden on the courts and as many of these cases involve small punishments. This comes in at a time where the Karnataka High Court stayed the proceedings against the Chief Minister of Karnataka, Mr. B.S. Yediyurappa in a distric court at Gokak for allegations of violation of the Election Code of Conduct.