It’s official: Parivar to help party

The move follows the first round of changes that had taken place on Monday, a day after RSS sarsanghchalak K.S. Sudarshan advised the BJP leadership at a meeting held at the Prime Minister’s residence to set its house in order to undo the damage done by successive electoral defeats. Party sources said a third instalment of changes is around the corner. Krishnamurthi also placed Joshi in charge of the overall organisation. Khandelwal was assigned elections, and Mishra, training. BJP general secretary Sunil Shastri said the new functionaries would liaise between the party president and the central leaders in charge of the states within their zones.

The zonal chiefs, ‘‘apart from touring the country to tone up the organisation, will also assist the president in providing guidance and assistance to Prabharis (central leaders in-charge) of states) on any matter related to the organisation.’’

The BJP’s constitution doesn’t provide for the addition of this new tier to the organisational set-up. Shastri explained that Krishnamurthi was ‘‘over-burdened’’ with work, which would now be shared by zonal chiefs. But another office-bearer, requesting annonymity, claimed Krishnamurthi’s poor Hindi language skills also influenced the decision.