NEW DELHI, June 29: The speculation over the next chief of the Delhi BJP unit ended today when Mange Ram Garg filed his nomination papers. He is the only one to file a nomination for the post.A formal announcement of his nomination to the post would be made tomorrow by the party's election officer Venkaiah Naidu, after a meeting of the 93-member state council.
Saying that the names for his executive would be announced in three days, he said, ``My priority as the BJP president would be to try and win more seats in the next Assembly elections. We need to have a five-month time bound programme to gear up the party workers for the elections.''
Commenting on the question of improving the impact of the party at the grassroot level, Mange Ram Garg said, ``I will personally visit the lowest body of the party, called the Samiti, to make the workers feel more responsible. I will also regularly supervise the working of these bodies.''Announcing that ``till the end of elections there is no rest,'' the 64-year-old leader denied that there was factionalism in the party. ``My own nomination has been seconded by all the senior leaders of the unit. I do not think there is any difference of opinion in the party.''
Garg said there would be training camps orgainised for workers and added, ``The distance between the Government and the workers has to be reduced by better interaction.''
Mange Ram Garg also said that members of various specialised cells, like the minority cell, would have to involve themselves in social work so that they are closer to the people.
A senior leader of Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh, Garg has been with the party from the time of the Jan Sangh. Besides holding the posts of general-secretary and secretary of the party, Garg was also on the committee for Kashmiri migrants and committee for Uttarkashi earthquake.
Presently, Mange Ram Garg is holding the post of president of Dharam Yatra Mahasangh.Six members of the Delhi unit of BJP have been nominated for the national council. The nominees are Mange Ram Garg, Nand Kishore Garg, Mohini Garg, Surinder Pal Ratawal, Lal Behari Tewari and Vijay Goel.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.