India, Oct. 4 -- Some in the BJP defend the transition to a more formalised structure, citing the growing size of the organisation and expanding responsibilities of senior functionaries.

In the old days, political work at the BJP headquarters could afford to drift. A leader might spend an afternoon over tea, see a few visitors, hear a few requests and go home without anyone asking what had come of it. That is no longer how the party's national headquarters on Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg works. Every officebearer now carries a defined brief and a timeline, and knows that someone will ask what the result was. The assignments vary widely. A leader may be responsible for a state, a Union Territory, a remote region, a particular event or a task...