Tuesday, January 17 2006 09:18 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Ahead of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national council meeting here on January 20, new party President Rajnath Singh is expected to give final touches to his team of office bearers and national executive members in consultation with top Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leaders over the next couple of days.

Singh is likely to announce his team either immediately after the Council meeting ratifies his appointment as party President or a day later, party sources told sources.

While RSS General Secretary Mohan Bhagwat has already reached the capital, its Chief K S Sudarshan and Joint General Secretary Incharge of BJP affairs Suresh Soni are expected to reach here either tomorrow evening or on Wednesday, Sangh sources said.

The leaders are apparently coming here to attend a meeting of the national committee for the centenary celebrations of the Sangh's second Guru M S Golwalker, which is scheduled to be launched in Nagpur next month.

However, Singh is expected to meet the senior RSS functionaries while they are in Delhi and discuss his team, the sources said.

The new party Chief already has had two rounds of discussions with Soni over the last few days.

Singh has already indicated his willingness to rehabilitate former party General Secretary (Organisation) Sanjay Joshi, who had to resign in the wake of circulation of CDs, which showed him in poor light, after the Madhya Pradesh police inquiry gets over.

In a virtual clean chit, Bhagwat, considered to be the next RSS Chief, has said the Sangh had 'full faith' in Joshi.

The BJP Chief is also expected to fill in the vacancies of heads of various state units of the party, including Rajasthan, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh.

With the party's Kisan Morcha Chief Annasaheb Patil getting caught in the cash-for query scam and its Scheduled Tribes Morcha President Faggan Singh Khulaste facing the axe in the MPLADs scam, he is likely to make changes in the various frontal organisations and cells.

He has also called a meeting of state General Secretaries (Organisation), most of them deputed from RSS, on January 21 to discuss organisational issues. He has already made it clear that there will be no compromise on conduct or discipline. The sources said Singh is expected to carry out a minor reshuffle only and not make any major changes in the existing team, which was earlier led by L K Advani.

While M Venkaiah Naidu (Vice-President in the outgoing team) has opted out of the team being a former President, Sushma Swaraj has also reportedly expressed the desire to remain Deputy Leader of the party in the Rajya Sabha.

Another party Vice-President Kalyan Singh is also expected to be given a 'free hand' in Uttar Pradesh with the possibility of his being appointed state unit Chief being rated very high.

Singh has expressed the desire to have three or four General Secretaries to look after organisational work in various regions of the country and is understood to have discussed it with the RSS functionaries.

Besides filling up vacancies in the existing team, Singh is expected to strike regional and caste balance in his team so as not to be targeted as favouring any particular state or section, the sources said.