In a strategic move ahead of upcoming elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) announced the appointment of 24 members as in-charges and co-in-charges for several states and Union territories, including Haryana, Jharkhand, and Jammu and Kashmir. BJP President JP Nadda made these appointments to strengthen the party’s efforts in these crucial regions.
Key Appointments
Haryana: Satish Poonia, the former president of the Rajasthan unit, has been appointed as the in-charge for Haryana, with Rajya Sabha MP Surendra Nagar as the co-in-charge. The BJP aims to improve its performance in Haryana by leveraging Poonia’s extensive experience.
Jharkhand: Senior party leader and Rajya Sabha MP Laxmikant Bajpai will take charge of Jharkhand. Previously, he was the election in-charge for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Despite losing the 2019 assembly elections to the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, the BJP managed to secure eight out of 14 Lok Sabha seats in the recent polls, down from 11 in 2019. Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma have been designated as election in-charges for the assembly polls in Jharkhand.
Jammu and Kashmir: The BJP has retained national general secretary Tarun Chugh as the in-charge and Ashish Sood as the co-in-charge. Union Minister G Kishen Reddy will oversee the elections in the region, where polls have not been held since 2018 after the dissolution of the BJP-PDP coalition government.
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Other Notable Appointments
- Manipur: MP Ajit Gopchade has been assigned to handle the volatile situation in Manipur, marked by ongoing violence between the Kuki and Meitie communities. Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently assured Parliament that normalcy is being restored in the state.
- Northeastern States: Sambit Patra, MP from Odisha’s Puri constituency, continues as the coordinator of northeastern states, with former Union Minister V Muraleedharan as the joint coordinator.
- Nagaland and Meghalaya: Anil Anthony, who contested the Lok Sabha polls from Kerala, has been appointed in-charge of Nagaland and Meghalaya.
- Bihar: National general secretary Vinod Tawde and Rajya Sabha MP Deepak Prakash will continue to oversee Bihar, where elections are scheduled for 2025. Tawde also managed the Lok Sabha polls in the state.
- Kerala: Former Union Minister Prakash Javadekar will remain the state in-charge, with Odisha MP Aparajita Sarangi as the co-in-charge.
- Punjab: Former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani has been given charge of Punjab, with MLA Narendra Singh as the co-in-charge.
- Himachal Pradesh: Shrikant, a former UP minister, has been appointed in-charge, with MLA Sanjay Tandon as the co-in-charge.
- Other States:
- Raghunath Kulkarni for Andaman and Nicobar.
- Ashok Singh for Arunachal Pradesh.
- Bihar MLA Nitin Nabin for Chhattisgarh.
- National general secretary Radha Mohan Das Agarwal and MP Sudhakar Reddy for Karnataka.
- Vijay Pal Tomar for Odisha, with Lata Usendi as co-in-charge.
- Nirmal Kumar Surana for Puducherry.
- Dushyant Kumar Gautam for Uttarakhand, with Rekha Verma as co-in-charge.